


Animals

by ConfessionForAnotherTime



Series: Symbiosis [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alcohol, Aliens, Anal Sex, Aroflux Character, Aromantic Character, Blood, Blood and Gore, Both of these fluctuate over time, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Confusion, Death Threats, Eye Trauma, First Kiss, Gore, Grey-Asexual Character, Identity Issues, Injury, Jealousy Issues, M/M, Masturbation, Military Mentality, Minor Character Death, Not quite Cannibalism, Origin Story, Pre-Canon, Sexual Confusion, Sexual Content, Sparring, Tattoos, Torture, Violence, commitment issues, hand mutilation, implied prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-04-15 08:42:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 67,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4600224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfessionForAnotherTime/pseuds/ConfessionForAnotherTime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We know them as monsters. As men who have nearly single-handedly destroyed an entire population for a paycheck. We know them as Felix and Locus, two of the most deadly mercenaries in the universe. So there are no surprises, they were monsters before.</p><p>July 2015 Camp Nanowrimo fic</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rule Number One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pay attention to Rule Number One.

"What is it that you do again? I'm not going to bother to memorize it because you'll be dead in a week anyway." Felix gripped the handle of his knife, testing the pad of his thumb over the blade. “Are you going to just stand there and gawk or am I going to have to find a different piece of slag to be my meat shield for this next mission? Christ, it’s like talking to a wall.” Felix pointed to another of the fresh recruits. “You. What’s your name?”

“King, sir,” the recruit piped up, saluting.

“Hey, cut that shit out. If they see you saluting me that means they have a target to take out. Do not salute your officers where the enemy could see. Rule one right there.” Felix turned around, shouting back at the other Sergeants chuckling behind his back. “Oh yeah, real fucking funny guys. Watch where you sleep tonight! They might just be picking up a body in the morning.” Felix muttered the last part, turning back to the first recruit. “Your. Name. Now.”

“Almeida, sir.” Almeida kept his hands down, hand on the pistol at his side.

“There. That’s how you answer me. Was about to name you after your armor just so I can distinguish you from the rest of the you. I doubt you would take kindly to be called EVA though. Rule one right there.” Felix droned for a moment longer as Almeida piped up.

“You just said that rule number one wa---” Almeida stopped the moment that Felix’s knife pressed to the bodysuit under his armor, applying pressure against his neck as his pulse throbbed under the blade.

“I didn’t say you could speak. Did I?” Felix flicked his tongue to grind out the last two words, pointing out for emphasis how serious he was. Almeida shook his head and the blade withdrew, sheathed at Felix’s thigh.

“Actual rule one, assholes: listen to me carefully. I won’t repeat myself and you may be dead before I get the chance. Dismissed.”

Almeida blinked as the others dispersed, absolutely lost as to how they knew where to go or what to do. Felix took the opportunity to lean into his personal space, causing Almeida to take a step back the closer Felix got to him.

“Sergeant Choi?” he asked the closer Felix got, invading his space. Felix took that moment to laugh, wrapping his arm around Almeida’s shoulders in a friendly gesture.

“Sergeant Choi? Come now, I know we just met, but call me Felix. No sense in getting all _formal_ in the _military_ or anything, but Private Almeida? You need to speak up more. You can’t expect someone to jump in for you all the time or speak for you, you know?” Almeida didn’t even see Felix unsheathe his knife, but the glitter of the blade in the high day sun caught his attention, reminding him just how very dangerous his commanding officer was.

“Sir, Felix, I’m a Private First Class.” Almeida swallowed down the uneasiness at having Felix so close, or anyone for that matter, used to keeping people at an arm’s length, both literally and figuratively.

“Private, PFC, only difference between the two is a small pay step that is negligible after you hit the bar. You do drink, right?” Almeida didn’t find a moment to get a word in edgewise, considering he was trying to follow the advice of a man he just met. He had the confidence that Almeida lacked, which drew him closer to wanting to get to know Felix better. “Now! Your bunks will be over there with the other newbies because the other Sergeants and I need to know where you are for the blanket parties.” Felix leaned in close to whisper the last part. “Don’t worry, we only pick one person a night and it’s usually the guy who fucked up earlier in the day that didn’t fuck up so bad that he died.” Felix withdrew his arm, sheathing his knife audibly, and taking a step back from Almeida. “Now, go find your bunk, newbie. Remind me of your importance later today when you remember what you’re good for. Okay? Okay!” Felix walked off, a tan and green arm shooting up in the air to wave at him as he headed in the direction of the mess hall. Almeida stood there for several minutes as the base continued to pulse and thrive around him, moving supplies from one end of the base to the other and otherwise, ignoring him standing in the middle of everything, trying to figure out where he fit.

Almeida headed over to the bunkhouse, finding his fatigues and personal belongings already hauled over and a bunk claimed for him in the middle of the rack. He shook his head, remembering hearing stories of soldiers not even spending a whole lot of time in their barracks despite the assignments thanks to patrols, training, and missions. He reasoned there was no point in unpacking his things. He grabbed his weapons, laying them out on the bed to clean them from order of importance. He got as far as laying them out when an elbow caught him in the ribs to get his attention.

“Yo, do you have a death wish or something?” Almeida looked at the fellow private in the domed EVA helmet, just like his own.

“Not as much as we do with that helmet. I’ve been thinking about changing because it just invites snipers to come after me?” Almeida chuckled once, turning back to his rifle and pistol until a gloved hand clapped onto his shoulder and spun him around.

“Yo, asshole, I’m serious. No one gets close to Sergeant Choi and lives longer than a few weeks. Either he’s bad luck or he worms his way far enough into your head to make you second guess your every move until you come back in a bag. Seriously, if you want to last in this squad, stay away from him. I don’t care what you hear about him. I know he’s rising in the ranks. I know he’s slick and ‘cool’ but he isn’t worth your life.”

“Hmm,” Almeida grumbled, looking the other soldier up and down. “And you’re an authority on him. Who are you?”

“I’m PFC Williams. Just trying to look out for you.”

“Appreciate it. PFC Almeida.”

\---

Williams died within a week, taking a bullet to his domed helmet. Almeida wasn’t particularly broken up when he heard the news, having pointed out the disadvantages of the helmet right after they got to base. It made him quicker to find something better though in the mean time. He stomped into the mess, grabbing enough food to take with him to his bunk for the sake of staying away from the rest of the soldiers in the base. He let out a sigh of relief when the bunks were empty as he walked in with his food, unwrapping an MRE. He took a seat on his bunk, laying down as he ate. Felix flung the door open, stomping his way across the bunk house. Almeida sat up on the bunk in alarm, relaxing when he saw his Sergeant come in. He similarly froze when Felix tossed his helmet onto the end of Almeida’s bunk, raking his fingers through his hair. The light caught his eyes, illuminating the near-black irises.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Don’t you know that you’re supposed to keep all of your food in the mess hall. _Some_ one told me that you were sneaking food out and I thought to myself ‘self. Does this sound like something a brand-new recruit would do just a week after arriving? I mean, he’s told the entire time that he’s supposed to keep his food in a specific place, so why would he go out of the way to break rule number one?’ Now, tell me: what is rule number one?” Felix leaned in close to where Almeida was leaning up on his elbows, staring at him with a half-wrapped ration.

“To listen to you carefully, sir, but you--” Almeida started before he was cut off.

“Uhp uhp uhp, don’t even try to explain it. You thought you had a better idea than following the rules, and more importantly, that reasoning made it so you circumvented to violate one of _my_ rules. Now. You will eat in the mess hall from now on. I don’t care why you want to eat in here. You don’t want to end up like Williams.” Felix pulled back, lips curling into a grin. Almeida was captivated at this point at how easily Felix had taken his hold on him.

“What happened with Williams to make you say that, sir? Sniper got him. I don’t see how that violat---” Almeida started again as Felix held his hand up, cutting him off again.

“Hey, I told him to stay put. I told him that Michaels should have been the one to head out and scout. Really, the scouting should be left to me.” Felix pointed to his helmet, as if making a joke. “Anyway, I told him that the sniper would see him easier with that big dome on his head. He didn’t listen and better yet, if he had been _careful_ , he would have seen where the previous sniper trails had come from.” Felix let out a sigh, exaggeratingly shrugging his shoulders. “I told him not to go, but poof splat, he became a smear. Not saying it would happen, but it would be such a shame if someone managed to put a bullet in the middle of that dome of a helmet you got there. It sure paints a _big_ target.” Almeida looked over at his helmet, further reinforcing that he needed to do everything in his power to get to the armory. He didn’t want to end up like Williams.

“M-maybe I’ll get a different helmet,” he started, eyes following Felix’s hand as he scooped up his own helmet, clicking it into place.

“Up to you. They used to call me McScouty back in the day. I could fit into those places that no one else dreamed of when I bothered to put my mind to it.” He nods his head over to the EVA helmet. “Only thing you’ll get with that one is people squinting at you when you stand in the sun and a bullet between the eyes. Besides, at least Williams was taller than me when he was alive. You’re half a head shorter and that helmet in particular makes you look like a kid trying to wear daddy’s tie and oversized shoes.” Felix finally crossed the room to the door. “Anyways! Just wanted to give you the warning that I’ll be watching you!” The door slammed shut behind him and Almeida blinked in confusion. He tore a chunk off of his ration, trying to make sense of why the hell Felix would barge in like that. He acted like an asshole the entire time, poking fun and insulting him at every opportunity, yet he still went out of his way to recommend that he change his helmet to prolong his chances in the war. It didn’t make any sense.

Almeida collapsed back onto the bed, taking bite after bite of the ration until it disappeared, pulling out another one to repeat the motion. He couldn’t tell his commanding officer that he felt threatened in the small space of the mess hall or that he could spot the tactical weakness of having all of your soldiers gather at intervals throughout the day, making the squad more vulnerable if there was an attack. He took a deep breath, swallowing his agitation down as he snapped on his helmet and headed over to the armory. The armory was bound to have something that proved more tactically useful than the EVA helmet that he had just snapped to his armor. Anything had to be better than this. He hated to admit it, but Felix was right, even if he was only validating his previous concerns with Williams.

\---

“Haha, well now soldier, look at _you._ Brand new helmet and everything. Pray tell, are you all about making a big sign telling the enemy where to shoot or does the thrill of death just _get you going?”_

Almeida sighed silently in his helmet. Commanding officer or not, Felix seemed to have this need to torment him that matched no other.

“Hello Sir, what can I do for you today?” Almeida asked, not looking up from his pistol. Disassemble. Clean. Polish. Reassemble. Focus on the task at hand and maybe he would go away to pester someone else. Felix took a seat next to him, peering over his shoulder to get a closer look at how quickly Almeida’s hands worked.

“Wanted to give you the heads up that we’ve been assigned to a scout mission. Standard procedure: go in, retrieve the information the Captain is looking for, get out. I don’t think there’s much to do besides confirming location and patrol routes. I’m taking you and Jacobi with me. You get along with her right?” Felix had dug a knife he wasn’t used to seeing out of his tactical pouch, flipping it open and closed over and over as he spoke. Almeida paid more attention to his hand than the words he was saying, distracted from his own task by the light glinting off the blade.

“Sorry, repeat that?” Almeida finished reassembling his pistol, clicking the last pieces into place.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re coming. Jacobi will be your partner on this with me. You two can be _best_ friends!” Felix got up from his spot, spinning the knife against his finger and flicking it away back into the tactical pouch. “Come on, we’re losing daylight. We leave five minutes ago. Grab your shit.” Almeida blinked in surprise.

“Excuse me, sir, but I’ve been--” Almeida didn’t have a moment to react before he took a step backward, Felix advancing on him.

“Almeida, I know you haven’t been with us long, but you aren’t following that rule number one. You are with me one hundred percent on this, or I am leaving you out in the forest after I paint that silly X on the front of your helmet bright _fucking_ red. _Now_ have I made myself clear as to how soon I want you to be ready to move out or do I need to grab the red spray paint?” Felix didn’t take a step back when he finished, purposely invading the other’s space.

“No, _sir_ , you don’t need to bring it along.” Almeida regained his posture, standing inches from Felix in what some would call his first act of defiance. His voice hardened as he brought himself up against Felix’s intrusion. _Wouldn’t do you any good to pack the spray paint along anyway with how full your bag is with your ego._ “What do I need to bring for this?”

“That’s the attitude I want to see. Come on, you just need a weapon or two and your wits. I packed mine already and Jacobi is waiting outside.” Felix led the way with Almeida close behind him, Jacobi joining the pair as they headed out of the base. Felix set the coordinates to sync with their HUDs, showing a spot off in the distance. Felix led them to motorpool, grabbed two of the mongoose-class all-terrain vehicles, and they set off. Almeida followed closely behind Felix with Jacobi holding close to his waist with one arm, weapon drawn with the other. He didn’t have time to pay attention to her as he drove, but she stayed vigilant to their surroundings, noting markers as they drove for passage back on the way home incase something happened at the enemy base.

Upon arrival, the trio hunkered down, watching the movements at the base. Finding Sanghelli that were planetside was nothing to scoff at and finding ways to study their movements was the best way to ensure survival if there was an attack. Felix directed Jacobi to flank right on the ridge they were hiding on, Almeida to flank left while he stayed near the mongoose just in case something happened. Jacobi reported over her findings about the patterning of their patrols, finding little reason to how erratic they were. Almeida found little to add to the report aside from how the smaller aliens tended to bumble around, while the taller ones, the elites, as they called them, did much of the heavy lifting.

“This was a waste of time,” Felix crackled over the frequency. “Head back over here. We’re going back to camp. I’m not cut out for scout work anyway.” Felix turned around, climbing to his feet as he went up face to face with an elite. Its bluish armor shone once it shimmered into view in the evening sky and Felix took a step back. The alien seemed to appear out of no where, both on his motion tracker as well as before his very eyes. “Guys, back here! Now! We have company!” The alien sprung into action, shooting off rounds of plasma from his rifle as Felix dodged, rolling out of the way. Almeida pulled out his pistol first, firing off several shots into the elite, smirking where no one could see at its cry of anger. Jacobi fired seconds after Almeida, hitting the alien in the legs. She ran a little faster, reached Felix as he struggled to dodge the alien a little quicker, and took a plasma shot to the gut when the alien spun around and fired on her for shooting him. She clutched her stomach, the wound cauterized instantly from where it punched through her body suit. Almeida cursed under his breath, switching to his assault rifle and unloading into the monster. Felix sprang behind the alien, offering him a killing blow as he slit his throat, blue blood spilling onto the ground, then stabbed him in the side for good measure.

As Felix cleaned his blade to be put away, Almeida rushed to Jacobi’s side, helping her over to the mongoose she had ridden with him on after covering her stomach in biofoam as a way of helping the wound as they headed back to base camp. He sat her in the driver’s seat while Felix picked up her weapons, strapping them to his back.

“Let’s go.”

The ride back to base proved stressful for everyone involved. Jacobi busied herself with trying not to move so much that she bled all over the place, as she found that twisting on the mongoose even a little opened up the cauterization enough to make her ooze fluids. Almeida drove from behind her, looping his hands under her arms and scooting himself close to her to ensure that she was upright and not in danger of falling off, like she would be if she rode behind him. Felix took up the rear this time, ensuring that no others were following them as they headed back. Almeida helped her into medical, handing her over to the doctors and waiting outside until he heard word that she was in the clear.

Almeida sat on the steps outside medical until midnight, waiting to hear news that Jacobi would be okay after their attack in the forest. He would be ever grateful to Felix for helping him take down the alien-- no, monster-- that had injured their teammate. He still shook his head as he kept thinking over and over that Jacobi had been hurt _for nothing_. The trio had gained no useful knowledge about their enemies patterns or military style, which was a shame considering they had tracked down a section that happened to be planet side. He grunted in frustration. _So much for use._

“How’s she doing?” Almeida looked up to find Felix standing over him, offering a bottled water. “I noticed that you haven’t left the outside of this building since we got back.” He took the water, but said nothing. This was Felix’s fault in the first place. After a few minutes, Almeida spoke up.

“She’ll be fine. I would think that you would be checking your close proximity motion tracker for activity. You probably had other things to think about though. Like your ego.” He was almost surprised at how much scorn he was able to muster for his commanding officer over the health of a woman he barely knew. Felix seemed shocked as well, eyes widening.

“Well then, looks like we have a problem now, _don’t we_? We should probably fix that. 0600. Training floor. Don’t be late.” Felix turned to walk out the door, looking back over his shoulder as he grinned. “No weapons. No armor. Just you, me, and our egos. Think you can take me?”


	2. Breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just breathe.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Almeida over prepared himself for the challenge his commanding officer had given him. Being challenged to a fight by the person who was supposed to be leading him sat so strangely in his mind that he was still going through the process of trying to figure out if Felix had actually meant the words. He glanced up at the clock. Forty five minutes since he had gotten up and fifteen minutes before he had to be in the training room to face off. He didn’t understand what he was really worried about, considering all of this was a huge misunderstanding. He ran his mouth. He got in trouble. Fighting his commanding officer, even as a challenge wasn’t going to change anything, other than potentially injuring one of them to the point of possibly being unable to function. He stepped himself through the entire conversation again. He second guessed what he had said and went through scenarios that allowed him to be able to save face. He knew that he could ask Felix not to go through with this, but he didn’t want to be seen as weak. He didn’t need Felix using it against him in a sense. Overall, he didn’t want to be transferred away from Felix no matter how much of an asshole he was. Where did that come from? Almeida knew that deep down, there was a reason he was fighting this, at least a reason beyond Felix being his commanding officer. He deserved it though. He deserved every blow he was going to deliver to his smug mouth, every block he was going to use to keep from being hurt, every painstaking smear he was going to rub across his ego to tarnish it.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. _You can do this._ Basic training had afforded him several opportunities to spar with others over the course of his time with the UNSC, however, all of them had been peers. None had been below him, and certainly none of them had been in the position to be giving him orders throughout any scheme of things. _This is lunacy. Madness. Why am I even going through with this?_ Ten minutes ticked down as Almeida checked back at the clock, shooting glances over at the others in his squad who were giving him thumbs up. It wasn’t that they hated Felix for any particular reason, but knowing that someone on their level could potentially wipe the floor with him always sent the others into a chatter, taking bets and making speculations on who would win and what should happen to the one who didn’t. Almeida was going to offer Felix an out. He was going to tell him he wouldn’t fight him, that as his commanding officer, it was wrong. He also considered what he would do if Felix didn’t take it. Do you just hit him? The thought didn’t just make him uneasy, it terrified him. It didn’t matter at this point. Something was going to happen and it was going to happen in five minutes.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Almeida laced up his boots, buttoned his fatigues, and lowered his cap. Since joining the military, he lamented having to shave off his dreads, but in situations like this, it was better to have his hair short. He just hoped Felix didn’t bother pulling out any dirty tricks. Almeida snorted to himself, pulling his hat off to comb his fingers through the short, thick curls. _Now or never_. He pushed himself off the bed, feet landing on the floor with a thud and padded his way over to the door. He took one last look at his bunk before heading out, snorting at the lack of anyone else in the bunk house.

He kept his breathing steady as he made his way from one side of the base to the other, ignoring the varying soldiers who noticed him out of armor and exposed to potential attack from the enemy. Right now, he only thought of Felix and how he planned to win against him. Almeida had to prove in some way that if Felix wouldn’t take his offer and let him back down that he couldn’t get away with bullying his soldiers just because they said something he didn’t like. He checked his watch, noting he only had two more minutes to reach barrack four with the training room inside, complete with sparring ring. Usually, the sparring ring was left open for demonstrations and not ego display, like Almeida assumed this would turn out. He stepped inside the barracks, looking around at the soldiers gathered into a ring around the floor. News had traveled fast the night before and he figured in his time since being stationed at this outpost, either officers did not challenge subordinates to matches very often or the soldiers of this base had little to do in the mean time between missions. One minute to go.

Felix sauntered in just after the clock clicked to 0600, giving Almeida time to practice how he was going to get him to back down. He knew he had to appeal to Felix’s better nature, even if he didn’t think such a side existed in the man. He watched as Felix pulled off his fatigue jacket, raking his fingers through his hair, preening, even before a fight. He cocked his head when Felix unlaced his boots and kicked them to the side, peeling his socks off and tossing them away as well.

“Come on, get ready. I don’t have all day. I was hoping to be done with this in time to hit the mess hall and have breakfast before drills.” He winked at Almeida, making him squint in response at how nonchalantly he could be handling this. Almeida kicked off his boots and socks, leaving them near one of the several soldiers around the edge of the room. Felix stood on the edge of the circle that outlined the middle of the floor. Felix bowed with his hands pressed together. _My god he’s a tool._

 

 

“You do realize we don’t have to do this right? I said something you didn’t like. Make me run laps. There no sense in us fighting over me running my mouth.” Almeida hoped that Felix would take the offer, not wanting to beat his commanding officer over something so stupid.

“What’s that?” Felix asked, cupping a hand to his ear, “are you? Are you giving up the fight? Are you backing down and away so you don’t have to go up against me? Is this because you’re afraid or because you know I will kick your ass?” Felix’s lips curled into a grin as he saw Almeida bristle at the words. “That’s what I thought. You know you want to kick my face in and I’m giving you the perfect opportunity to do it. Now. Are you going to hit me or are you going to stand there so I can insult you until you hit me?”

“Fine.” Almeida stood up to the circle on the mat, stepping inside the makeshift ring as the crowd stood around them to watch. He chose to take the first swing once the pair squared off and Felix dodged out of the way easily, studying his movements carefully for how he would act and react to the fight. Felix slapped the side of his face to agitate him, grinning wider at the fire in his eyes at being taunted. The fight continued like that with Felix dodging out of the way as Almeida took his swings, not really landing any blows on Felix like he intended. He stopped to catch his breath after a few minutes of exerting himself, catching a fist to his cheek rather hard and clutching it when Felix bounced back away from him, grinning like a kid who just ate the last cookie in front of his sibling.

“You son of a bitch,” Almeida growled out, concentrating his body a bit lower so that Felix would have to reach just a bit more to be able to land another blow on him if he got so lucky. He started to pant a few minutes later, fatigue from the quick exertion catching up with him faster than he intended as the mind game Felix played with his sparring also required concentration. Felix laughed in his face, unable to contain his excitement.

“Wow, are you always this easy?” Felix bounced on the balls of his feet around Almeida, trying to provoke him into action. “I mean, here, I was thinking that I would be able to bleed a little, but oh boy, are you proving me wrong. Really? With as much as I heard about you I would have thought that I could get something out of you if it ever came down to this, but instead you’re sitting back like a p---” Felix reeled when Almeida’s fist connected with his mouth, taking a few stuttered steps back and staring at his opponent.

“You talk too much.” Almeida kept himself low, recurling his fist as Felix took the bait. He glanced around him quickly, the deafening noise of the other people in the room making it hard to hear the scuffle of Felix’s feet once he decided to make his move.

“At least I know what I am.” Felix’s mouth curled into a grin as Almeida righted himself a little, taken aback by the comment. Felix took his opportunity, landing several blows on either side of Almeida’s face and knocking him to the ground. “You can’t even form a thought on your own because you are so busy second guessing yourself. So tell me, Almeida, man with the Locus helmet: what are you? Why are you important?” Felix pulled away his bloodied fists after a few more blows, shaking his hands out. “If you can’t even answer me that, then you shouldn’t be making smart remarks about others who know their place in the world. Learn yours.” Felix got up off of him, wiping the blood onto his fatigues and offering a hand to Almeida to help him up. Almeida refused, pulling himself up on his own and spitting blood onto the floor.

“You make me sick.” Almeida let the blood collect in his mouth for a moment, spitting it out on Felix’s shoes as he stared him down. “And here I thought I had a commanding officer who was actually worth the words spoken about him. Seems you’re only as good as the writing on the latrine wall.” Almeida wiped the blood from his mouth just in time for Felix to swing at him again, connecting with his cheek and breaking the skin this time from the repeated force of being hit before.

“Now now, you’re only allowed to talk down to me when you’ve earned it. Besides, if you believed everything you read on the bathroom wall, you would know what they already say about you.” Felix started to walk off, turning around before exiting the training room. “You’re just jealous I haven’t had time to give you a spin yet. Still, at least I know I’m better than you.”

\---

Almeida groaned out in pain when he rolled over on his bunk. His ribs restricted his breathing from where Felix had managed to get a few hits in, though medical couldn’t find anything beyond some bruising wrong with them. Though he had spent a good amount of time there having his knuckles covered with butterfly bandages and having his cheek stitched back together, nothing had hurt more than the questions. He didn’t know what he was and Felix had cut him deep. He had hoped that joining the military would help him discover just what kind of man he was, yet so far it had only earned him months of insecurity, a commanding officer who just wanted to push him, as well as several abrasions. His lip started to bleed again from where he pulled the stitch when he sneezed, wiping away blood that he only thought was nasal mucus. _Great_. Almeida went in search of something to clean up the blood, anything clean. He found a few of his rolled up socks, though they did little to deal with the bleeding as the socks were too dense to effectively mop up the blood. He considered heading back to medical to get cleaned up but decided against it when he realized that he would have to face Jacobi, as she still hadn’t been released after their run in with the alien from the few nights before.

Instead, he laid back on his bunk, thinking of what this fight would mean for his working relationship with Felix. To start, it would mean that Felix would go out of his way to be increasingly more pushy with him, almost to the point of abuse, he figured, especially with how little he let up with the others in the camp. Felix had to have a weakness somewhere. He was sure of it. Honestly, he thought he had gotten it by poking at his ego and making him feel like less of a person in that regard, if only to spark some kind of compassion in him to a degree. It had clearly backfired on him, judging by how much blood was still seeping out of his face and by how much his ribs and hands hurt. There had to be more to it than just what was on the surface. He couldn’t be that cold.

“Hey, Almeida!” Morrison called from the door of the bunkhouse, padding his way across the floor to his bunk. “Is it true that you took Sergeant Choi’s challenge for a fight?”

“Yeah, why?” Almeida nodded, not getting up, hoping that his face was proof enough for why he wasn’t bothering to move more than what was explicitly necessary.

“Just wondering, dude. I don’t know of anyone who has gone up against him and lasted a week longer than that. Usually anyone who bothers to get in his way or do anything he deems out of line ends up dead. Always some kind of ‘field accident.’ We all know what happens though. I’m really kind of surprised he didn’t pull a knife on you right then and there because I heard you actually landed a punch on that fast mother fucker.” Morrison went on, asking questions about the fight and how he managed to live past making it out the door of the training room hall after Felix had beaten him down so thoroughly.

“I guess I got lucky?” Almeida shrugged and winced in pain. “He doesn’t scare me though, which is probably a stupid thing with how you’re going on about how I’m going to end up dead. But really, he doesn’t scare me in the slightest. He can bring it. He may have that knife on him that he holds so dear, but I know how to use my rifles and I will shoot in self-defense if I have to.”

“Here’s hoping you don’t need to.” Morrison asked Almeida about the fight itself and how it had come about in the first place. Morrison shared stories of others who had gone up against Felix and hadn’t lived, giving all the gruesome details as to how they had ended up dead, and if it looked like an accident or not. Not long after, he left.

Almeida spent the next few days listening to the jeers from the men in the bunkhouse, getting very few of them who wanted to congratulate him on what little he was able to land on Felix in the fight and instead was reminded of all of the pain that was headed his way beyond the ache that still permeated his chest. The worst part about the healing process was it had to be put on hold for each of the drills that Felix dragged the entire squad out for each morning, seemingly to punish him. Felix would call off the training for a day until it started to rain, grabbing each and every one of them to do mud crawls or picking the hottest point of the day to go on a run with minimal breaks for water.

By the end of the third day, Almeida was at his breaking point. His ribs still ached from the kicks and every chance he got, he gulped down as much water as he could to stay hydrated in the grueling conditions. The other teammates didn’t get off lightly, either. Almeida was ready to challenge Felix over it, to stop punishing the others for the words he was so pissed at him for saying, but he lacked the conviction to make things worse for himself, even if it would help the feelings of anger and dissent from the others in the squad.

“Felix. You anger is misdirected,” Almeida attempted to reason when he caught up with the commander on one of the sets of drills the following morning.

“Did you hear that? King? Johnson? Did either of you hear someone talking to me?” Felix looked directly at Almeida as he called the other two to answer his questions, only to get shakes in return. “I thought not. I was always under the impression that commanding officers were addressed as such, not called by their first names like some kind of friend.” Almeida almost bit his tongue in half trying to hold back the string of hatred that wanted to spring from his mouth but breathed deep instead, staring him down.

“Sergeant Choi. Your anger is misdirected,” he repeated, pointing out to the soldiers who continued to drill despite the fact that he stopped. “You’re pissed at me. Why bother punishing them as well?”

“Because, PFC Almeida, as you will soon learn, when one of you fucks up, you all fuck up. Get back in line.” Almeida let out a huff of annoyance, getting back into line with the others as he winced out his drills. Felix leaned back over to King. “It’s always so nice when they listen like the dogs they are.”

Felix ran the group through another set of drills, and their captain came over to hand Felix a list of instructions. The pair nodded as Almeida looked over, slowing his drills to see what he was getting at. Felix raised his hand in the air. He signaled for Almeida and Morrison to come over.

“Seems we have a job to do. You two are coming with me. This should be easier than the last mission.” Felix eyed Almeida and Morrison looked up, watching the tension between the two. “It’ll take a little longer, but we should get the information we need. There’s a group of humans who have defected from the UNSC and are feeding information and weapons to factions who have decided that the alien threat isn’t as real as we know it is. What we need to do is cut off their supplies once we highlight the locations of the other factions that have split off and united against the UNSC. I think the three of us should be able to scout this one out and bring back the information needed within a few days, don’t you?” Felix laid his eyes on Almeida, waiting for the nod of approval over leaving on the mission. “Pack your bags then. We’re off.”


	3. Methodology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Now, when you’re baiting them, you need to make sure to sound convincing. This is why you’re sending me there.” Felix finished dressing himself for the mission into the formidable fortress that they were heading into.

“Now, when you’re baiting them, you need to make sure to sound convincing. This is why you’re sending me there.” Felix finished dressing himself for the mission into the formidable fortress that they were heading into. They had gained intel from sources that the compound’s leader favored younger men, usually on the “prettier” side. Felix preened, even after Almeida pointed out that pretty was a relative term and couldn’t guarantee that Felix was even this guy’s type.

“Please! I’m every guy’s type. Just look at me.” Felix ran his hand through his hair and went back to fixing the last of his outfit. Almeida just made a look of disgust, more at the idea of being with Felix than how he looked. His suit looked nice and his hair was cut well. He didn’t agree with the multitude of tattoos that he was still showing despite the suit, but then three of them had to hope that whoever Felix was meeting up with would be okay with that.”

“You do realize you aren’t required to sleep with him right? That part is just a piece of your own sick game.” Almeida could barely hide the disgust in his throat. He shook his head as he buttoned his shirt up to his collar, hating that he had been assigned to cover Felix while he went and did his best to weasel the information out of him, by whatever means necessary. The idea filled him with dread, as the lingering anger from the fight the few days before still stung his lips and ached in his ribs.

“Yeah, but what’s the fun in that? We’ll see. I probably won’t sleep him with though. Just drink a lot until I get what I want. I might use some unconventional methods if need be depending on how much I have to press him.” Felix stretched his arms up over his head, grinning widely and turning to Morrison. “M, ensure that radio waves stay clear. Almeida is serving as my bodyguard and while the both of us will have devices in our ears to hear anything you say, we will not be able to radio back. You got that?”

“Sir, yes sir.” Morrison took his space in the car posing as the driver on their mission, kicking the dirt off his shoes after walking the few paces back to the car from the front steps of the mansion that lay before them. Morrison kept his gun handy on the seat next to him, radio tested and ready to report as Felix and Almeida made their way up the steps to the mansion. The pair were greeted by what they presumed was the butler, leading them up the grand staircase to the sitting room above.

“Gentlemen, welcome. I’m Winston Adams I see you two are looking to invest in our noble cause. Those filth at the UNSC want us to believe that so much of our lives depend on us catering to their lies and slander as they try to sell us on the alien invasion. I’ve seen pictures, but nothing up close and even if something did happen, how do we know that they aren’t retaliating to us in the first place for something we did instead of attacking. The government is just looking for ways to keep us down as a part of their plot to control the populous and me and my people are not about that kind of existence. It’s just comforting to see a couple of fine, young gentlemen such as yourselves looking to join us considering our numbers are so small at the moment.” He cleared throat, turning back to the bar set he had been tinkering with when the two of them walked in. He offered drinks to the both of them and while each of them took a glass, Almeida kept a grip on his in case one of them had to keep their wits straight.

Felix, on the other hand, sipped down the whispey like it was water, taking several drinks while Almeida ‘nursed’ the one he had from the beginning. Felix got Adams talking about the location of bases, the amount of troops, the types of weaponry, anything he could take back to the captain. Almeida did his best to scan the house for valuables and other things that would prove useful in their struggle.

After Almeida left Felix to get more acquainted with Adams, he slipped off, looking for those little pieces of value. It seemed that Adams didn’t keep much in the way of staff at his mansion, likely finding it easier to have as few people know as possible where his secret fortress was in the middle of the forest. _Perfect_. Almeida located a locked room, setting his glass of whiskey down on a nearby table and picking the lock, though it took longer than he was used to. He eventually got the door open, frowning at his rotten luck. He had happened upon a spare bedroom, locked for whatever reason, and could not find anything in particular that would be of interest on their mission. Just correspondence between Adams and some woman. Almeida squinted as he tried to read the letter more closely, finding small intricacies to the letter that made it seem off. He shrugged, stuffing the pile of letters into the inside of his suit jacket and carried on, looking through drawers and closet doors in search of anything.

He soon left that room, searching down hallway. He knew Felix could handle himself with how many knives he had packed with him, so there was no sense in heading back to check on him just yet. Almeida checked a few more rooms, pocketing information he deemed could be useful from a computer he found in one of the spare, unlocked rooms. As he waited for the download, he looked about the hallway, still pleased at the lack of security in this place. It made the entire operation seem far too easy.

The ease of the mission came to a close when Almeida found the room they had been searching for. Inside was an entire console of computers, all wired to a central hub that was monitoring not only the compound, but the area around it. There were cameras in every room, presumably recording, and showing him every inch of the house and area around it. He walked over to a wall with a set of maps on it, similar looking to their location, and it pulled up the locations of all of the places that the three of them had been sent to figure out. Almeida downloaded as much information as he could to the memory chips he had on him, looking for the storage so that he could erase anything that would point to the three of them being in or around the mansion at this time. He grinned as soon as the display stopped recording, deleting the footage of any of them being in the vicinity of the mansion.

As Almeida headed back to the main living room where he had left Felix, his stomach started to turn and knot, a sudden attack of anxiety he couldn’t make sense of. He made his way a little quicker, pace picking up and his heavy shoes thudding against the floor. It occurred to him then that he hadn’t heard from Morrison at all since they went inside, leading him to believe that either their communication was cut off, or someone had gotten to Morrison. He would have to worry about that as soon as he retrieved Felix, which was his top priority. Almeida flung open the door, just then realizing that he had left his glass of whiskey behind two floors and at least an hour ago, but reasoned he couldn’t head back for it now.

He found Felix straddling Adams’ lap, hands on his shoulders from what he could tell. Based on the position, he had interrupted them, but Felix still had his pants on so something else had to be up. Upon closer inspection, Felix busied himself with choking the last signs of life out of the man under him, tightening his grip. The skin was missing from Adams’ left hand, blood decorating the floor amongst the viscera of skin, tendon and other tissue. Almeida made a face and Felix looked up, wiping the blood away from his mouth.

“Did you--? Have you been--?” Almeida tried to get out, his words failing him.

“Relax.” Felix held the blood covered blade between his lips while he rooted through Adams’ pockets. He pulled out a pocket watch, wallet, and a smattering of other items from his pockets, whistling at the custom pistol in the holster in his smoking jacket. “Before he bled out all over his jacket here, you know when I slit his throat in the middle of grinding on his lap. I know you totally wanted to hear that,” Felix remarked, grinning at Almeida’s look of disgust, “I was ensuring that I got all of the information we needed to access all of his files.”

“You mean the ones I have on my memory chip right now?” Almeida’s eyes flashed when Felix’s face dropped just a smidge.

“You’re kidding. I just ground myself against his lap when we could have just shot everyone in here, grabbed the information and left?” Felix wiped the blood from his mouth. “Of all the boners I let grind against my ass for the sake of information….” He trailed off, shifting his eyes. “Tell no one.”

“This is all you. I want nothing to do with this. Let’s go.” Almeida shook his head to get the image out of his head. _Why? He could have stopped talking long before that._

Felix wiped his knife off on Adams’ shirt, pushing off of the chair. He didn’t follow Almeida, instead he clicked his teeth, grabbing a few pieces of silver and other valuables as they headed out. Felix headed to the garage, grabbing one of the several cans of fuel and lighting it, setting the garage ablaze first, letting it spread to the rest of the house in order to destroy any evidence they had been there besides the charred remains. Morrison gave them a questioning look, growing concerned when he saw the blood on Felix.

“It’s nothing. Their blood not mine. Drive.”

\---

Felix scrambled out of the vehicle as quickly as he could, eager to regain some of the dignity he lost on that mission. Almeida jerked his head at Morrison, telling him to head to motor pool and back to bunk.

“I’ll check on Felix,” he told Morrison as he tapped his hand against the side of the jeep. Almeida made his way to Felix’s bunk, a small separate room off of the bunkhouse for the rest of his soldiers that he was assigned. Almeida cocked his head. “You okay?”

Felix scoffed. “Of course I am. It takes a lot more than dick against my ass to rattle me. Lot more than blood.” Almeida still could see that Felix’s hands were shaking to a degree.

“Bullshit. You’re shaking. Why?” He shifted his stance as he waited for Felix’s explanation.

“This was supposed to be an easy mission. Really, if you look at it, it was. This was fucking cake. Easy as they come, and yet, I wanted to make it into more than what it was. I wanted to have that excitement, that thrill of being able to say ‘yeah, I did that while we were out’ and have that fame and recognition of knowing that ‘holy shit, there goes Felix, what a badass.’ It’s about pride.” Felix looked Almeida up and down. “Not sure you really understand what that means based on how well you did with it, but I suppose we did finish what we set out to do even if I didn’t get that moment in the sun like I had hoped.”

Almeida raised an eyebrow. “Just what are you talking about with pride there? When I came in, you were moments from having him inside you despite the fact that you had already killed him and were covered in his blood. What pride is there to take in that kind of display? To think for a brief moment, I looked up to you because I figured you would be this epitome of what I should aspire to be when in fact, you’re no better than the degenerates that we’re being paid to take out.” Almeida huffed out a sigh. “Was is necessary to skin his hand or wipe your blade clean with your tongue? Did you even need to employ sexual measures to get your job done? Or is this some kind of sick breeding ground for your own set of sexual fantasies that would get you locked up with civilians?”

Felix’s eyes narrowed increasingly as Almeida continued to speak, waiting for the break in conversation to get his word in.

“How I conduct myself is my own business. I don’t need a lecture from some _private_ about---”

“Oh, so we’re going to take rank into account now. How is it that you feel the need to punish the whole squad when you’re only mad at me for challenging you? Why is it that you leave me to fend for myself because you just get off on the idea of the others coming down on me for sticking up for myself? I don’t think I did anything to deserve your ire, but you’ve certainly dished it out in heaps.”

“ _Earned my ire_. Ha. The fact that you don’t see it in the first place. You have been challenging me from day one. The fact that you swung at me when I challenged you was your next mistake, as well as countless others. But you wanted to do the mission. You wanted to be perfect. You wanted to prove something to me that you couldn’t do unless you went out of your way to show me up. You left while I went to interrogate him. You should have stayed so then you could see how a master works. Me carving him up is _your_ fault for leaving me alone for so long. I got bored, so I busied myself. Not my fault I wanted to see how he ticked and worked.” Felix crossed his arms, blood still dried on his face. Almeida just noticed then that neither of them had changed from the mission. “I have a way that I work, _private_ , and you keep getting in the way of it. I want you to fall in line and you are constantly finding ways to butt up to my authority.”

“How is qu--” Felix held up his hand to silence Almeida before he got a chance to finish.

“That’s the sort of stuff I’m talking about. You interrupt. You question. You offer suggestion and solutions that do not fit with a military lifestyle. Your first instinct when faced with an enemy should be to kill it. It should not be to reason with it or try to figure it out. You should take care of it as swiftly and cleanly as possible. What did you even _do_ while I bothered trying to get the information that you so easily got your hands on?” Felix tapped his foot, a small smirk curling on his lips as Almeida started to shrink a little in stature.

“I looked for something that could be useful,” Almeida started. As soon as he noticed the change in Felix, he straightened up, narrowed his eyes and continued. “I knew that you would be busy with your end of the mission that wasn’t on the mission plan to begin with, so I went with my idea and looked for something to download. I knew there had to be some kind of computer near by that I could hack or otherwise get what we needed and after a few rooms, I found files and downloaded them. End of story.”

“Nothing else.”

Almeida shook his head, remembering the letters. “Nope, nothing.”

“Bullshit. You saw me picking up things left and right. You had to have grabbed something other than what you were assigned to get else we just torched a lot of pricery shit for no damn good reason.” Felix quirked an eyebrow as Almeida shifted a little, looking away from him and digging his hand into his pocket. The press for information made him a little uncomfortable and he relented, knowing that this might please Felix to a degree. Almeida fisted the papers, shoving them in Felix’s direction and made eye contact again. “The hell is this?”

“I picked them up while I was in there. They didn’t make sense but they were locked away. I figure if they didn’t want us to see them, they would hide them away. So I grabbed them.”

Felix stared at him blankly, blinking a few times before responding. “You grabbed some fucking paper.”

“I… is this not what you were getting at when you asked if I grabbed anything? LIke I said, I tried making sense of it and I couldn’t. I… nevermind. You’ve come to your own conclusion anyway.” Almeida scoffed and folded his arms, looking away.

“Fucking paper.”

Almeida turned back, raising an eyebrow.

“Paper. What the hell am I supposed to do with paper? What sense am I supposed to make of letters taken from a building we just torched when the key to them is likely back at that building?” Felix threw his hands up in disgust. “You know what, this is why I can’t take you anywhere. It’s not because you mess up my plans in the first place, but it’s because you grab _paper_ instead of something _worth something_ to me _._ ”

“Hey, it looked important okay. If you weren’t so busy trying to--- ugh. I don’t even want to say it. What matters is if you were so damn worried about it, you should have knocked him out or killed him quickly instead of torturing him and flaying his skin. If anything, _you_ should have been looking for something worthwhile instead of dicking around, literally, while I did all the work.” Almeida’s focus narrowed. “You want to shift all the blame away from what you can’t do because you aren’t acting like you’re supposed to. You could be so much better. Instead you’re this unfortunate mess that keeps getting the better end of the stick because you demand it.”

Felix sat there, awestruck that someone would stand up to him. Almeida stared him down, daring his commanding officer to finally say something to refute his words so he could continue his rant. Felix sat still, holding the papers out in front of him, staring Almeida down with cold eyes. The pair stayed like that for several minutes, neither of them moving yet, waiting for the other. Felix broke first, turning his eyes away to look at a spot on the wall.

“Maybe these will prove useful. Go on.”

Almeida left Felix’s room that night, heading over to his bunk in the barracks next to it. Though he hadn’t been in any danger, he still wondered how Felix would have reacted if they had been. He shudder at the thought.

 


	4. Alienate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Now! We have a situation! We have a base to investigate and many of the alien bases in the area have given us cause for alarm. One in particular has been a hotspot for activity for months now and we need to shut it down. Hopefully, we can take one alive, learn why it’s here and exterminate it like the rest of the grubs they shove down on our planet. Now, we will split up into several groups once we reach the base for better effectiveness in figuring out just how many of them are there at that given time as well as ensuring we neutralize the threat. I want all of you to be on guard at all times. Keep your radios on. Stay in pairs and above all, check in with the rest of your team periodically so that you can ensure that you and the rest of the team know exactly where everyone is. You got that?” Captain Brown spat out his orders, waiting for the echoed call of ‘sir, yes sir’ to bellow back at him from the respective mouths of the troops at his command.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pun with the title makes me laugh, then cringe.

“Now! We have a situation! We have a base to investigate and many of the alien bases in the area have given us cause for alarm. One in particular has been a hotspot for activity for months now and we need to shut it down. Hopefully, we can take one alive, learn why it’s here and exterminate it like the rest of the grubs they shove down on our planet. Now, we will split up into several groups once we reach the base for better effectiveness in figuring out just how many of them are there at that given time as well as ensuring we neutralize the threat. I want all of you to be on guard at all times. Keep your radios on. Stay in pairs and above all, check in with the rest of your team periodically so that you can ensure that you and the rest of the team know exactly where everyone is. You got that?” Captain Brown spat out his orders, waiting for the echoed call of ‘sir, yes sir’ to bellow back at him from the respective mouths of the troops at his command. “Now, I want all of us to make it back here tonight. It shouldn’t be too difficult since we have fought these monsters before so we do know what we are up against. Stay vigilant and ensure you are aware of your surroundings. Now, grab your grenades and lock and load. We want to be back by nightfall tomorrow so that we can enjoy a victory meal. The war is almost over with these jackals and I’d like to be able to personally escort all of us home when it is.”

The squad nodded unevenly, giving one another pats on the back and high fives before they had even set out on their mission. Felix nodded at Almeida to join his warthog on their expedition, grabbing Jacobi as well to play gunner since she had recovered from the previous mission. In the few weeks that had passed since Almeida had joined their squad, Almeida had learned more than he thought possible. Their captain pushed them harder than any drill sergeant ever had and while he appreciated the push, he also couldn’t help but think about where he would be if he hadn’t been forced to join up. Yet, he was here now and his goal was to make it home or die trying.

The drive to the alien base gave Almeida and Jacobi little to do while Felix guided them through, the trio ending up close to the rear of the formation. With ten warthogs in the caravan, most everything had been scared, shot, or otherwise moved out of the way to some degree. Being at the back of the caravan didn’t mean that Almeida and Jacobi weren’t on a constant state of vigilance so that Felix would stay safe as well, since most of his left side was exposed and Jacobi’s range was just as limited as Almeida’s was at that point. Jacobi ended up finding a few things to shoot at along the way, though most of them were area fauna, making her sigh in frustration at being so far back in the formation that they wouldn’t be able to see any ‘real action’ as she put it.

Almeida sighed as the drive drug on, dragging his hand through the brush that whipped by the side of the warthog. He knew that he should have been more engaged, but like Jacobi, he just didn’t have the stimulus to keep his attention as Felix drove them for several hours over the course of the day.

The group arrived by nightfall the first night, parking their vehicles outside the base and moving in to explore. The plan was to stay in formations of three while investigating, which gave them the option to cover more ground. Almeida scanned each of the rooms while Jacobi checked their six, Felix taking charge to sweep the hallways. They gunned down several of the aliens inside the base, leaving their blue blood splattered on the walls and floor in their wake. Felix wanted to make quick work of everything and keep to Captain Brown’s initial plan, as it meant he would be that much closer to warm bed, warm food, and figuring out just what those papers were that Almeida had picked up.

“Everyone! Zero in on my location. We have found what is to be believed to be the last alien at the camp. I want all of you on my location on the double. It seems to be trying to communicate with us and no one has any kind of translator.” Captain Brown’s voice was close to a piercing screech as he informed everyone of what to do. Almeida, Felix and Jacobi zeroed in on his location, showing up around the time the rest of the squad did as well. “Damn thing’s been trying to talk to us somehow and even down in that hole, I’m not letting it out without some answers as to what it is and why it’s here or by leaving it as a stain on the floor, ya know?” He nodded to Felix. “What do you think?”

“I say we blow its brains out.” Felix stepped up to the edge of the pit where the sangheili was being kept, the gold armor shining in the small amount of light still in the base.

“That’s your answer to everything,” Almeida told him, looking the creature up and down and assessing the threat. It didn’t look like much. Even with all thirty of them there, they likely would only need a few of them to be able to incapacitate it and take it down.

“Hey! Will you quit eyeballing my men and give me some answers?” Captain Brown’s voice was harsh in the silent air, and Jacobi just looked at him in a way that Almeida could only assess as disapproving.

“Sir, I think it’s trying to surrender,” Almeida told the Captain, trying to nudge him towards a more peaceful option. Jacobi’s disapproving look through her helmet fixed to him, almost miming like she was rolling her eyes.

“Bullshit, I think it’s stalling. Sir, I think this is a trap.” Felix shifted, raising his weapon at the alien, ready to shoot at it.

“Felix, I did not ask for you opinion---” Captain Brown was cut off by the alien, followed by Felix reasoning that taking prisoners was a bad idea. Brown ordered him and and Almeida to take the alien out and shoot it, away from everyone else.

“Sir, it’s scared.” Almeida did his best to reason, knowing that if they could find a way to talk to it, the gold-clad alien would likely tell them everything they needed to know in exchange for keeping it alive.

“If it’s smart, it should be.”

“If we could restrain it, we could---” Almeida started, taking a step back when Captain Brown came towards him, cutting him off.

“You’re a soldier! In this war, you are nothing but a suit of armor and a gun! So when I give you an order, you damn well follow it! Do I make myself clear?!” Captain Brown’s chest heaved slightly, waiting for Almeida’s reply. He kept silent, mulling over the words for a few moments. “Do you understand me? You are nothing but a tool. Tools are mean to be useful. Go be useful and follow your orders.”

It seemed like more than a few seconds, but the moments that Almeida tried to make sense of the words just baffled him. He walked with Felix down to the pit where the alien was being held, the two of them subduing it for the sake of taking it to a nearby building to be able to take it out quickly and quietly. Almeida kept thinking about how he was just a tool, and a man that he regarded as a mentor just saw him as a tool. _Did Felix see me as a tool also?_ They made it to the building, alien in tow and readied their weapons. Almeida took a deep breath, then lowered his, looking back and forth between the alien and Felix.

“Come on. Let’s get this over with so we can head back to base.” Felix motioned to the door of the pit, holding his hand out for Almeida to enter first. Almeida got a good look at the “monster” in front of him, shielding his eyes from the gleam of the golden armor against the lights. Its eye narrowed.

“Please come with us.”

\---

It broke free. The alien had gone along with their orders, like it could understand them, before it turned on Almeida and Felix. Felix and Almeida were each incapacitated by the attack, surprisingly only suffering minor wounds before the alien sensed the others close by and went on the prowl. The “monster,” as it had been dubbed, made its way back to the building where the rest of their squad waited for their return, weapons lowered or put away. Most didn’t have time to react before the energy sword sliced through several of them, leaving those with time to react scrambling. It didn’t stop the squad from lower its shields significantly as they were torn to pieces, trying to take down the alien with everything they had. When Locus and Felix dragged themselves out of the adjacent building, limping from injury, they saw bodies littered everywhere, both human and alien, as their captured friend had managed to call in reinforcements while they were knocked out and bleeding. Almeida looked out over all of the carnage that used to be their squad, rolling over bodies with his feet and nudging. Felix took a more direct approach, kicking the alien corpses that were left behind in the scuffle where their men had perished.

“What the fuck!” Felix yelled, his foot connecting with the face of the gold armored alien that led to this mess. “We had weapons, armor, all of it. What the fuck is going on?” Almeida couldn’t offer any solution. They were gone, dead, and the two of them had no way of helping. Felix fell to the ground, beating the same gold clad alien with his fists. “We should have killed you! We should have all opened fire on you then. Fuck you!”

“Felix, this is---” Almeida started, taking a step toward him.

“YOU. Fuck you the most. You wanted to _talk_ to it. Reason with it,” Felix spat out, climbing to his feet and asserting his height to make the few inches he had on Almeida seem like so much more than they were. “If we had just shot the fucking thing like Brown wanted, they would all be alive. We would have been there to help with the attack. But _no_ you wanted to talk with the beast that is responsible for so many deaths of people _I knew and cared about_ while you twiddle your thumbs about wanting to have a conversation. Were you going to make him _tea_ too? Or do you always open up with that level of _shit_?”

Almeida heaved out an exasperated sigh. This had been building in the weeks since he had been assigned under Felix’s command and it only got worse with each passing day. From the most recent spar to passing him on the way to the mess hall, Almeida had been slowly growing less and less tolerant of Felix. He wasn’t going to yell though. Captain Brown’s words had been echoing through him, penetrating into his being as he realized that the key to his own happiness lay in setting things aside. Every time he let Felix get to him, it only caused physical or emotional backlash. If he could ignore it, then he had the upper hand. If he could ignore those annoying parts to Felix that ate away at his patience until he had nothing left but raw emotion, then maybe he could be the soldier that Captain Brown had told him he was. Tools did not have feelings. Tools did not have emotions. Tools did not second guess. They were used in the manner that befitted the user and they didn’t ask questions. Almeida closed his eyes, thinking before he spoke to Felix.

“I don’t.”

“You fucking don’t what? You don’t fucking think? You don’t do as you’re told? Because man, my hand still aches a little when it rains every time I think about how I beat your face in and laid you out. I still think about how you are so _into_ following that I could order you to _sit_ and _heel_ like a dog. Well, I _could_ if I was Brown because you’re so into kissing his ass when you just want to give _me_ shit. Something you’re not telling me there, Almeida?” Felix sneered, eyes narrowed inside his helmet and filled with fire.

“Don’t.” Almeida huffed out a breath, wanting to keep the conversation away from sex. Felix knew he didn’t stray into that realm with their commanding officer, let alone anyone else in their squad.

“Don’t _what_ , Almeida. Don’t point out that you’ve been trying to be this lap dog. To be perfect so you get that pat on the head. Guess what? You aren’t perfect. You’re nothing more than a fuck up and if you want to be that soldier that Brown was yelling at you to be, you better figure out where your priorities lie. You have _me_ now and I’m not about ready to babysit some piece of shit wannabe that dreams of being a soldier. You either are one, or you’re not. Are you Almeida or a soldier worth his snuff?” Felix shifted, taking a step back in his stance while he waited for the man in front of him to decide. Something snapped or clicked in Almeida at that moment, changing him. Felix’s oddly inspirational speech had done more than he realized. He came to find that he wanted to be better. No, he was better. Not would be or wanted. He embodied that betterment by stepping up to the challenge of being the soldier he couldn’t be before.

“Almeida is dead.” Almeida let out the last breath of his former self, breathing in change.

“Great. Like need another body to clean up.”

“Locus.”

“Pardon me?” Felix asked, holding a hand up to the microphone of his helmet.

“Since a soldier is a tool, I am no better than the armor that encases me. I am Locus.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, _really?”_

\---

“You know, that speech you spewed back at the alien base? Complete horseshit. Absolutely. You sounded like a comic book villain and it was just so _trite._ I mean really, if you’re going to change your identity and do a complete 180 from what you are now, you can do better than taking up the name of your armor, getting all gruff and cold and just announcing ‘I am Locus.’ Really. I can help you with it. If anyone asks how you came up with the name, since ya know, it isn’t fucking normal, they are going to laugh at you flat out. I want to warn you ahead of time since I’m your _friend._ ” Felix placed his hand on his chest plate at the end, watching Locus as he drove. “I want to save you some embarrassment here just in case anyone tries to laugh in your face once they realize what your armor is.”

“Enough.”

“Oooh, already taking on that cold exterior even _with me_. So kind of you to include me in the same loop as everyone else here.” Felix rolled his eyes in his helmet, leaning against the armrest on the door on the warthog as they drove back to the main base. The other squads would wonder why only two of them returned when thirty had left in the first place, but as they had been reminded so many times when parties came back lighter than when they left ‘ _this is war. Not everyone makes it back.’_

After another few hours, the pair stopped. They were in no hurry to return to base, so they took their time. As Felix drove, Locus noted many of the huge trees in the forest as well as other points of interest to investigate should they ever come out this way again. Locus didn’t speak much on the ride back beyond that, keeping most of his thoughts to himself, contrasting Felix’s inability to keep his mouth from moving. Locus presumed it was to keep from falling into what he would call a comfortable silence, but each time before Felix started to speak, Locus noticed that he began to fidget as he drove, needing something else to focus on besides the road they were making ahead of them.

Locus tried not to worry himself with how the two of them were going to break it that everyone else didn’t make it. Despite taking up the mantle of the name of his armor, it still required him to think about who he was and why he was doing this. Just saying he was Locus wasn’t enough, he had to practice. Why was he saying something in that tone with those words? Why was he acting in that manner? Why did he choose to shoot and ask question after? In the world of war, was it worth it to him to kill everyone who got in his way and ask questions of the ones who managed to survive? He hated to think about it in the long term, but he had Felix. Felix had done the military lifestyle longer than he had and his dripping wit and sarcasm only proved that he had a defense mechanism in place to keep people from breaking his exterior to the ‘real’ him. Locus knew there had to be a way to find that out without revealing what it was he was trying to get at. He knew there had to be a way to practice his persona as well until it became natural. Locus stopped paying attention to the landscape that passed outside, turning back to Felix.

“Explain to me how you are the way you are,” Locus asked.

“What?”

“Explain the traits that make you Felix.”

“Ah! Yes, the lovely pieces that make up the beautiful being that is _yours truly._ Where should I start? No, I got it. First thing, do not give a single shit about what anyone thinks about you.”

The problems came from Locus caring too much. He wanted to be able to turn it off like a switch but nothing he thought of up until that point really spoke to him. Felix could explain it as much as he wanted but the fact of the matter was that Locus would still be himself even if he looked different, acted different and carried himself different. Locus would still be Luca Almeida, following orders and protocol. He stared at Felix blankly, which the other soldier seemed to get even with the helmets in the way.

“Okay, think about it this way. You do not give a single shit about what people think about you. I do not care one way or the other what someone thinks or says about me because nothing they think or say will change who I am. Why bother myself with trying to conform to their idea of what I should be like?” Felix explained as he drove, the satellite indicator telling him they were coming up on the home base in the next few hours.

“So, even if I do care, just don’t.” Locus cocked his head in confusion, his anxiety over the situation lessening slightly the more Felix spoke.

“I’m not saying don’t care, but don’t care where they can see. Think of yourself as a character. You have a role to play and anyone who misinterprets you is a piece of shit and you make them pay for that, but really, so long as you keep the persona up, who cares what they think?” Felix shrugged in response, pushing the gas pedal to the floor just a little more in hopes of reaching the base sooner.

Locus didn’t really have a reason to hide who he was. He was still a soldier. He was still himself. He was still all of the things that made him up before they went on this mission so what had changed in the process? What was so different now that he was willing to abandon his name, his life, and take up a persona to keep it hidden? Was it easier to cope with it or was just the fact that he didn’t want to deal? He took a deep breath as a level of guilt started to eat at him a little, making him feel for the other twenty eight soldiers that had passed when he was supposed to be paying attention. Those twenty eight soldiers that he knew. Those twenty eight soldiers that had perished because he didn’t do his best and had been taken down at an unfortunate time. He hefted out a sigh, unable to clear his mind of the guilt that ate at him.

“I think part of why I want to hide it is because it’s easier than dealing with the fact that I feel responsible for everyone who died back there. It was my fault because I wanted to try to reason with the alien instead of all of us opening fire on it right then and there. I wanted to see if it had anything to share with us and everyone but us paid for that decision. I just think that overall so much could have gone so much differently if I had just gone with the herd instead of trying to be different.” Locus signed again, holding up his cheek with his palm. “And now you’re telling me that I should be different and not worry about what the others think of me and take up a caricature of a soldier instead of just doing what I want to do with myself. You want me to hide, or at least you are suggesting it.”

“I don’t think I’m suggesting you hide at all, but I think you need to figure out what it is about yourself that you want people to see so you can better be the soldier that you want to be. Do you want to be that weapon so more don’t have to die for your mistakes or do you want to potentially get others killed?” Felix’s words hung heavy in the warthog as Locus mulled them over with his anxiety rising. He didn’t want to be the reason his own men didn’t come back but he wanted to ensure he was taken seriously. There were enough people in the squad who didn’t, just saw him as a liability and he wanted to prove them wrong. Locus straightened up in his seat, looking Felix up and down.

“I want to be the perfect soldier. I want to embody all of those things that people look up to but I want to do it without compromising myself in the process. That being said, I also want to ensure that my enemies hear my name and fear me as I walk past, not wanting to even be near me.”

“See, there ya go. That’s the sort of shit I want to hear. Make sure you can see the whites of their eyes as you press the gun barrel between them, ya know? That way they know exactly who it was that sent them back to that place. Figure out you and kick ass.”

 


	5. Practice Makes Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Felix. Enough.” Locus did his best to grind the words out like he meant them, biting his tongue a little to punctuate them more.

“Felix. Enough.” Locus did his best to grind the words out like he meant them, biting his tongue a little to punctuate them more.

“That’s better, but you’re still holding back. I want to know that you actually mean the words you’re saying. If you said that to me right now, I would just look at you like you had knocked over a glass of water. Blank stare and everything. I need to feel it from the back of your throat. Your growl should tell people you mean business. Currently you sound like a weak kitten coughing.” Felix grinned as he saw Locus stiffen at his words, poking him in just the right way to anger him into speaking how he should be all the time.

“Felix _. Enough,_ ” Locus ground out, practically spitting acid at the words that were only meant to encourage him but were actually raising his hackles in a way that he hadn’t felt since he first met Felix the first day he had been shipped there. He clenched his fists, walking away for a moment in a display of annoyance that Felix mistook as being part of the act.

“See! That’s better! Look, you’re already learning. Nice with the walking away part. Made you actually seem mad there for a moment because really you just don’t actually look pissed. You could work on your pos--”

“ _Felix, enough!”_ Locus practically yelled, stomping his foot as he picked him up and held him by the throat, standing him up on the tips of his toes, impressive for someone shorter. Felix chuckled, licking his lips as he saw the fire in Locus’ eyes. Locus set him back down, walking away from him with a little more haste than he usually did after they practiced like this.

“There ya go. Now, you just need to have that same level of intensity without losing your cool so people take you seriously. Hey where are you going?” Felix held his arms out in confusion, furrowing his brow and sitting back down.

Locus left to the other side of the empty bunkhouse, still mostly vacant after their squad hadn’t come back with them the week before. Felix had been helping Locus realize that he needed to get over it, to become that emotionless machine that dealt with pain the same way a tire dealt with a tin can. He slammed the door to the bunkhouse, leaving Felix inside. His foot connected with a rock and he grumbled in frustration at the reality of the entire situation. He hadn’t been assigned to a new squad yet. All he had was Felix. All he had was this young, brash, mouthy Sergeant that was encouraging him so much to take on this persona to help protect him. He huffed angrily, heading back to the bunkhouse. He kicked off his shoes against the wall and took his place on the bed again.

“I need to calm down.” Locus shifted his position.

“Is it me that has you all worked up?” Felix sat cross legged at the end of the bed, leaning forward as he cut chunks off of his apple and ate them off of his knife.. “Or is there someone else in your life that pisses you off more than me.” Felix’s lips closed over the pieces of apple and Locus studied his mouth as it moved. His tongue darted over the blade for a second as his teeth closed over the chunk of fruit. Locus looked away after a moment as his anger dissipated, shifting slightly.

“I don’t think there is anyone in the world who can fill your shoes in that category,” Locus mumbled out just loud enough to be heard, almost pouting.

“Haha, so you do think about me. Is it really when I just make you mad, or are there other times?” Felix flipped his bangs back dramatically, laying back on the bed and continued cutting chunks off the apple. “I mean really, it would make sense that you thought about me. We spend enough time together that you probably at least think ‘oh man, I wonder what Felix is up to’ or ‘I wonder what he looks like naked’ or ‘I wish he would bring me a snack so I don’t have to get up again.’ You know, stuff like that.” Locus sighed in exasperation, just shaking his head.

“Yes, I totally think about you naked, getting you snacks and wonder what you’re up to when I see you most of my waking moments of the day. Why don’t I just go get you a ration and strip you of your clothes?” Locus deadpanned. That should stroke his ego some. He liked the idea of Felix, but he wasn’t sure if he would cling to the idea of being with Felix like that, not for anything long term at least. He held no desire for it, though many things didn’t keep his attention these days.

“Haha see, I knew you were just raring to go for me. How about you and I spend some quality time together later?”

“No.”

“I could make it worth your while.”

“I said no.”

“Fine. Suit yourself. You should at least give serious thought to my idea from a few days ago. It would be really easy for the two of us to leave. The other captains in this squad have no intent of assigning us to their squads and there aren’t new troops coming in for months. We could go home.” Felix chomped on another piece of apple, chewing it loudly so Locus paid attention to him.

“We could, but is there anything for us to return to at this point? The two of us have seen combat. We have been on mission where people have been killed and really, I don’t have anything back home. I don’t want to go back to a life where I can’t be like this. I have freedom here, even with the so-called structure. What about you?” Locus laid across the end of the bed where Felix’s feet were, making a face when Felix propped those same feet on his chest.

“I don’t have anything either, but there’s so much money to be made out there. Much more than what we can get as soldiers at least and you know what I mean by that.”

“I do?”

“Hell yeah you do. Think about it, Alm--Locus. Think. We could go and take jobs from people who want us as contract killers. Can you think of the power that comes with that kind of job? No more listening to captains who want us to do their dirty work or listening to people below us complain about the work that they don’t want to do. Just you, me, a contractor and a pile of money. After all of this, I say we deserve a break.” Felix laid his hand out, panning over his view with it like he was showing Locus a horizon.

“You sound like a twelve year old who is telling me that running away from home is the best course of action because you had your toys taken away.” The painful clarity in Locus’ voice just made Felix’s point stand out more. “Why should I go with you?”

“Lots of reasons. Think about it.” Locus dismissed Felix’s words, still trying to push down the idea that they should be partners, let alone lovers. It seemed unnecessary. Locus tried to think of a time where it seemed necessary and considering his little experience on the subject, he ignored it, rolling over on the bed to face Felix.

“So how do we do this?” Locus rolled his eyes to show his disinterest and Felix grinned.

\---

Several days passed as the pair gathered supplies slowly. They kept quiet about what they had planned. Locus busied himself with procuring food, weapons, blankets and other practicalities while Felix worked on securing the Warthog. Felix stopped as he received a transmission from command ordering him and Locus to return to central command to await reassignment. Locus shook his head when Felix told him the news.

“We need to secure a pelican then. Just running with a warthog isn’t going to get us anywhere fast. Respond to the transmission. We’ll get on a ship.Just ensure it has minimal crew so we can either recruit them to our cause or kill them.” Locus spun on his heel and headed out the door, leaving Felix stunned.

“Have you been practicing that?” he called and Locus turned with a raised eyebrow. “I said, have you been practicing that? It seemed better than when you were trying to tell me to do something the other day. You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?”

“I… not really?” Locus couldn’t find the words to tell him he had been watching Felix in how he carried himself, how he spoke to others at the base and in how he spoke to him. There were so many little things he had been paying attention to that having it pointed out made it seem silly. “It’s nothing.”

“Right. Let’s get a pelican.”

\---

One of the lucky things that Felix and Locus discovered in hijacking a pelican from their now former military organization is that the ships were meant to be flown with very little in the way of crew, making them ideal for the two of them. So as not to waste bullets, Felix made sure to slit the pilot’s throat on the way toward the military frigate, learning the controls by charismatically asking how the entire thing worked. Locus shook his head as he overheard Felix say ‘ _I thought about becoming a pilot back in basic training. I don’t know why I don’t go back and respecialize.’_ The pilot didn’t get a chance to respond before Felix killed him, opening the cargo hold and spacing his body.

“There we go. Now we have a ship.” Felix headed back to the control panel, setting course for a nearby den for space pirates, thieves and murderers. He heard rumor that privately, the wealthy frequented the den they were headed to in particular for the sake of hiring mercenaries to do their dirty work.

“Is this what we want to do? We want to be mercenaries for the sake of pay?” Locus questioned their motives again, leaning over Felix in the pilot’s chair and getting a glare in return, even if it was behind a visor.

“Are you telling me now that you want to back out? We’re less than a day from this place and it would be nice to have our own small scale frigate to work off of with a crew if we saw fit so that we could complete jobs at our own leisure.” Felix breathed in the excitement of the prospect. “Don’t you want that level of power?”

“I do. Yes. Fine.” Locus took a seat again, still conflicted by their line of work. It didn’t fit with how he would normally act, regardless of how the chips were falling. This way, he just had Felix to worry about. He didn’t have to see Jacobi die in front of him or hear Brown scream for someone to help him. He didn’t have to see King’s lifeless eyes after being attacked. This was better.

They reached the den full of mercenaries right when they expected to, parking in the hangar after gaining clearance and proving they weren’t with any kind of authorities. Felix led the way, Locus trailing behind.

“We here are looking for a job!” Felix bellowed out to the room full of people, grinning at the confused looks. Felix blew a kiss to one of them when he saw a friend from before. “We are looking for anyone who can pick up a gun and wants to help us. We want to start work immediately. So who is with us?” The crowd turned back to their beverages, ignoring the two of them as Felix frowned and Locus made his way into the crowd.

“Come on, maybe we can find something on a bulletin board instead. You don’t always have to announce your presence, ya know.” Locus stood in front of the bounty board, finding a wanted poster that cycled through most of the faces in that bar, saying the two of them were wanted on the theft of UNSC property. Locus grinned under his helmet, seeing a set of shops past the bulletin board. He headed out to them finding a myriad of booths to pique his interest. Weapons, armor, ammo. If he could name it, it had a booth at that mercenary den.

“Seems you picked a good place to stop after all. Look over there, they have modifications for armor so that we can better disguise that we were with the UNSC. If we paint away the color, maybe someone will come with us.” Locus headed over to the armor shop to grab some of the modification paint, guaranteed to last through ‘wear and tear of war.’ Felix rolled his eyes when he saw the canister in Locus’ hand, but picked up a separate can of orange for himself.

“Keep the green. It looks good on you. Grab the grey though. The one that almost looks black. We have some work to do before we can get anyone to go with us.

Repainting their armor was a chore, and waiting for it to dry took longer than anticipated. They hid out in their pelican, watching the other mercenaries come and go from their ships as they waited.

“Here I thought we would have more time to fraternize with the others on this rock.” Felix watched several of them pass, trying not to look as interested as he felt and brushed a hand over the front of his body suit.

“Is everything about you about sex?” Locus snapped his armor on after he deemed it dry, grinning widely at how much he enjoyed the change in color. “Or do you just take delight in making me uncomfortable every time you look at someone like a piece of meat?”

“Probably a little of both. Come on.”

\---

The dull thud from Locus’ fist hitting the punching bag over and over rang out in the quiet room. Felix leaned against the doorway, looking over at him before padding his way across the floor.

“Is this how you’re always going to greet me when you’re in here or are you going to say hi?” Felix flashed a grin that faded when Locus didn’t even bother to look over, making him pout and sit on the floor next to him. “You know, a simple hi would do wonders here.”

Locus refused to focus on Felix right now. Right now he needed to focus on the bag in front of him so he could train up his muscles to have the endurance that he needed for upcoming fights, battles, scuffles or anything else that may come their way. He needed to be prepared for the sake of them making it out alive to finish another mission, complete another job, to collect more of their money. Locus refused to be the reason as to why the two of them would fail and he wished that Felix would hold himself to the same caliber. Locus didn’t know where the snack came from that Felix was chewing on in the time he looked away and back again, but he stopped the swinging of the punching bag.

“I wish you would take this situation more seriously. We need to be ready for anything that comes our way. We need to be in top shape in case we are attacked, which considering what we are paid to do, is pretty likely.” Locus rattled off a number of other reasons for the two of them being in top shape, yet Felix rolled his eyes, laying on the floor instead as he chewed on his ration as Locus soon saw from the side of the wrapper. “Will you listen to me for once?”

“Hey, you’re getting better at making yourself sound more intimidating though, I actually thought that you were going to come over and here and get in my face like you tried to do that one time.” Felix laid back down on the floor after sitting up on his elbows, ignoring the look of fire in Locus’ eyes and missing the started gait toward him for sassing off to him. Locus picked Felix up by the scruff of his collar, lifting him up off the ground and holding him up to his face.

“I want you to take this seriously. I know that you don’t think we’re in constant danger, but I do. I want you to recognize that something can happen at any moment that we need to be prepared for and if you don’t keep yourself in top shape, I may not be there to back you up.” Locus’ eyes flared with fury as he held Felix up a little off the ground like he had before. Felix raised an eyebrow, bopping him on the nose with his ration bar and motioning for Locus to let him down. When Locus refused to let go, Felix wrenched himself free of his grasp, complaining about his shirt collar being stretched out because of it.

“Well, you are certainly getting better at that part. I know we need to be ready and I do train. You’re just asleep when it happens. Relax, will ya? You’re acting like I made your coffee too strong this morning. Christ. I need to lace yours with some decaf just to calm you down.” Felix left the room, waving as he exited the door and Locus hurled his fist at the punching bag. How dare he come in here and make fun of how he planned on keeping himself ready. Locus punched again harder, leaving an indent where his fist connected. How dare he think that he trained too much? Locus kicked the bag this time, almost falling off balance from where he threw himself too much into it. How dare he? Locus let himself fall onto the floor, rolling over. He squared his arms up, readying his body for push ups. Felix was wrong and he could feel it with every aching muscle. Did he not want to ensure that he too was in top physical shape?

With each passing minute his muscled started to burn and his mind focused on a separate line of questioning. He moved on from why Felix wouldn’t train to just Felix in general. Why did he choose to train where Locus couldn’t see? He worried about what it was that Felix didn’t want to show him, locking it away for while he slept. Soon his muscles in his arms started to burn, forcing him to push through as he thought about fights with Felix that ended with him brushing his hair out of Felix’s face and the two of them coming to an agreement of sorts. Locus fell to the mat at the realization, surprised it had even crossed his mind. No. He enjoyed the companionship he shared with Felix and it was nothing more than that. He didn’t understand the need to be around him so much but he was surprised the thought of a life without Felix actually pained him.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered to himself, squaring up his hands again. He pushed through the pain of the acid building up in his arms until he couldn’t take it anymore, rolling over onto his back to push out some crunches while he waited for his arms to rest enough to continue.

“Do you not know how to take any time off?” Felix appeared in the doorway, snack gone and away. “We have at least three days before our task even starts because our employer, one Denis Allen, wants to ensure that we are there at precisely the right time.” Felix pulled his knife from his utility pack, picking the leftover ration pieces from his teeth before he became too irritated. “Guy’s name is boring as fuck though. You would think that a man contracting out killers to do his dirty work would have a cool name like Maddox or Jack or Malcolm. Denis makes me think I’m watching some comedy special on the internet instead of big criminal mastermind in charge of paid attack dogs.”

“Just stop talking,” Locus ground out, crunching his body into a curl before releasing.

“You say that every time I start to talk. Still, we’re going to get a whole load of cash from this one and the guy said that if we do well with it, then he’s going to keep us on the payroll, well under the table mind you, so that he can use us to take out more of his competitors. I think it’s going to work out great for us in the long run though. Yeah, we get a few hundred thousand credits now, but eventually we’re going to have enough to be able to set up our own crew. We could get together a set of ships even and really, if we have that much of an operation going we have to be doing things like stealing or killing a whole load of people.” Felix turned over to Locus who was just staring up at the ceiling at this point. Felix nudged his leg and Locus jumped slightly. “Are you even listening to a word I say?” Locus rolled his eyes at the offense Felix was taking, shaking his head and laying out for a moment. Felix put his knife away into his tactical pack in his pants, laying down next to Locus on the padded floor.

“Are you done now?”

“Well actually---” Felix tried to continue, but the hand over his mouth from where Locus had spun and straddled his hips stopped him. One of Locus’ arms was pressed tight to his throat, not restricting breathing just yet, but Felix knew he could if he wanted to. His other hand was over Felix’s mouth, effectively silencing him.

“No. You’re done. I’m trying to get work done. I’ve had enough of you wandering in here when I want to train or be alone so unless you’re going to train as well, shut up or stay out of here. Now. Are you going to be quiet or am I going to have to knock you out for the sake of being able to hear myself think for ten seconds?” Felix swallowed under his hand then opened his mouth like he was going to speak. Locus didn’t remove his hand, wanting to muffle any words that would come out of Felix’s mouth before he agreed to leave him alone for the time being. Instead, Felix pressed his tongue flat against the palm of Locus’ hand, coating it in saliva and taking in the saltiness of Locus’ sweat from his exercise. Locus’ eyes narrowed and Felix smiled under his hand, flicking his tongue against Locus’ hand. When Locus refused to let him up, he thrusted his hips upward, making Locus yelp in surprise and release him.

“Disgusting.”

“Yes, but what would you do without me?” Felix asked as Locus rolled off of him, resting finally.

“Make twice as much money.”

 


	6. Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coming back from their mission, Felix and Locus shed their armor, tossing it away for the time being. Splitting up, Felix headed to the shower deeper into the small frigate, checking on the pilot in case any transmissions came in for the mercenary they had killed. The pilot shook her head, rolling her eyes at Felix dismissing her as Locus walked past him.
> 
> Locus took in a deep breath as he pushed his way past one of the crewmates they had picked up on the mission before last, telling him to get back to work. He disappeared out of sight which satisfied Locus enough, sitting on one of the benches in the small training room. He wrapped his hands, winding the tape over his knuckles so he had just enough give to pad his fists. He had a lot of pent up aggression to take out and Felix wasn’t helping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of chapter gets a little nsfw in the sexual way.

Coming back from their mission, Felix and Locus shed their armor, tossing it away for the time being. Splitting up, Felix headed to the shower deeper into the small frigate, checking on the pilot in case any transmissions came in for the mercenary they had killed. The pilot shook her head, rolling her eyes at Felix dismissing her as Locus walked past him.

Locus took in a deep breath as he pushed his way past one of the crewmates they had picked up on the mission before last, telling him to get back to work. He disappeared out of sight which satisfied Locus enough, sitting on one of the benches in the small training room. He wrapped his hands, winding the tape over his knuckles so he had just enough give to pad his fists. He had a lot of pent up aggression to take out and Felix wasn’t helping.

He didn’t want to start out with the aggressive approach. He wouldn’t be able to stop if he started there. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Several repetitions didn’t offer any relief for the anger that was knotting in his gut, leaving him to head over to a bar jutting out from the wall to pull himself up on it. Felix needed to reel himself in so much more. Locus couldn’t help but continue to be disgusted with a man who felt it was necessary to eliminate their target and then parade around the estate they ransacked in the man’s clothes. He didn’t understand the point of setting it on fire after collecting all the valuables they wanted, nor did he understand why he continued to need to make doe eyes at their employer for the sake of tips. _Don’t degrade yourself for the sake of more money from him. He doesn’t deserve it._ Locus still thought he sounded like a jealous lover when he said that to Felix, but the response he got was what made him stop for more than a few minutes. _Well, if you want what I’m selling, I don’t see you making any offers._ Locus had stood there in shock after they had boarded the ferry ship to head back to their frigate and count the millions they had earned by taking another competitor off the list. He wasn’t jealous. He also wasn’t going to offer himself to Felix. They were partners and no amount of doe eyes at their employer was going to make him change his mind. Locus’ lip curled in frustration as he pulled himself up for the thirtieth time, baffled that Felix would think he was interested in anything besides partnership that Felix had to offer. Everything to Felix was a cheap joke. Nothing was concrete. Even if he offered him something more, what was there to make him believe that Felix would stick with it. Thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine. Locus dropped to the floor with forty, turning to the doorway to find Felix. Plastered with a cocky grin and hair still glistening from the shower, he sauntered in, still high on the rush of the kill he just made.

“So, have you given any thought to my offer? It would certainly make being in here more tolerable. Besides, I know where you have been before. I can’t say that about our pilot or the mechanic.” Felix made a face when Locus pushed past him, rolling his eyes. Felix snapped his towel in Locus’ direction as he huffed further away from him. “I was talking to you. Have you thought about my offer?”

“If I was interested, you would know it. You’re not my type anyway.” Locus lied to himself because it was easier than letting Felix have another aspect of control over him. If he knew he could live with himself after, he would give into it. Locus didn’t understand what it was, but as callous and rude and immature as Felix was, he still enjoyed having him around. “I honestly don’t understand why I put up with you most of the time.”

“You put up with me because you would be bored without me. Face it, you enjoy having me around and you don’t know what you would do without me.” Felix ruffled the water out of his hair, doing his best to look well… Locus assumed attractive but he fell short.

“I might be bored without you, but at least it would be quiet enough that I could hear myself think for once.” Locus relished in the pout that one earned him, especially with how much Felix was throwing himself at him.

“Now you’re just being unfair. I haven’t done anything to deserve that.” Felix tossed his towel down.

“Oh you haven’t? I seem to remember you terrorizing the dog of that one job we had to do. That doesn’t earn you any kind of ire right there? What if I liked dogs and you messed up your chances because of it?” Locus grinned, a rare occurrence for him, as Felix’s face fell. Locus always went for the goal of helping Felix down a peg or two because it made him easier to deal with.

“That’s unfair. You’re just picking at things now for the sake of not considering what I could give you. I could give you the world. I have more money than you can imagine.”

“Felix, we have the same amount of money. I’ve seen your bank account. It has the exact same balance as mine, even with you getting those extra bribes for whatever it is you do for our employer.” Locus curled his lip in a sneer as he thought of Felix with their employer like that. He didn’t want to take the other man’s place all that much, but something about the situation around it soured him and made him want to keep Felix as far as he could from the man who liked to slide his hand down the backside of Felix’s armor. He shuddered and Felix perked up, noticing the disgust.

“You just thought about something you didn’t have any interest in thinking about. What was it? Are you wanting to see me naked again?” Felix asked gleefully, pressing the subject further.

“Please, once was enough. I don’t need to see you naked any more than that one time.” Locus tried to keep himself calm as he thought of those back muscles and wondered what his own would look like in tan--- no Locus stop. “I don’t need to see you naked no matter how much it excites _you._ ” Locus pushed Felix away as he tried to get closer.

“Then what is it? Why do you dodge me unless we have rifles in our hands or a table between us? Is there something you aren't telling me about how you function? I don’t get why you’re trying to be so closed off now. Tell me or I’m going to keep asking. Tell me now.” Felix refused to let up, trying Locus’ patience.

“Step away, Felix.” Locus took several steps back as Felix advanced toward him, not interested in engaging. Felix kept advancing until Locus’ back was pressed against the wall, making his heart race and his palms sweat. The constant prodding had raised his aggression higher than it had been previously. Felix wasn’t ready to take him on like this and kept pushing him.

“Are you afraid I’ll beat you or do you not want to find out how much like you like it when I do?” Felix licked his lips, staring Locus up and down as he planted his hands on either side of Locus’ head, keeping him cornered against the wall. Locus ducked down and out, backing away from Felix and back towards the middle of the room.

“Fine. You want this? Come over here and get it.” Locus balls his fists, thankful now that he had wrapped his hands before starting, though it had been in preparation for the weighted punching bag. Felix grinned in return, pulling his knife out of his pocket. He kicked his shoes off, squaring off against Locus and staring him down, waiting for the other man to make the first move. Locus waited, poised, controlling his breathing. He wasn’t going to take the first shot this time like he did last time. It gave Felix too much control. It gave him more than enough room to counter his attack and find a way to bring him down in the time he lunged and the time he actually connected with him. “Are you going to come for me, or do you want me to call Mr. Allen for permission?” Locus wanted to smirk when he saw the smile drop from Felix’s face, his fists tightening.

“Fuck you. I do what I want.” Felix lunged at him this time, swinging for his face as Locus barely made it out of the way. Locus held his arms up to block the punches as Felix had knocked him over and straddled his lap, throwing hit after hit to be blocked by his forearms.

“Hey!” Locus yelled out when Felix went around his block and clocked him in the ear, making his hearing ring. Locus raised up his legs and kicked them up to throw Felix off of him, rolling over to right himself up on his feet.

“I see we’re playing it like that. Do you always hit the people you’re interested in or am I a special case? What are you going to do next? Pull on my dreads and spit in my face?” Locus couldn’t believe the taunts that were coming from his mouth but he owned them all the same. The surprised look on Felix’s face was all he needed to throw himself at him before he had too much of a chance to react. Locus threw his volley of fist this time, focusing more on Felix’s ribs for the moment. He knocked some of the air out of him, causing Felix to choke and sputter which was only made worse when Locus pressed his forearm against Felix’s neck like he had done previously.

“It’s amazing how easy it is to get under your skin. A few choice words and I have you pinned and gasping for breath. Are you trying to lose or do you just like submitting to me like this?” Locus recoiled on his words when Felix spit in his face and he threw a punch, landing flat against his jaw. “Disgusting.” Felix straightened his neck as Locus spat out his words at him.

“Yeah well, I have you to thank for that. Are you trying to pin me or kill me?” Felix flexed out his shoulders, hunching down again to get ready.

“Maybe a little of both. I already told you that I would get more money as a solo mercenary.”

“You would also have to do twice as much work and there’s so much that I do that you refuse to, so don’t even go down that road.” Felix lept at him again, wanting to keep that semblance of control as he went for Locus’ middle, shoving him hard until he pinned him against the wall. Locus sputtered out a cough, pushing back with his elbows and sweeping a leg behind one of Felix’s knees to knock him off balance. Locus threw all of his weight into knocking Felix over, setting his arms out so his full weight didn’t crush him too badly. Felix choked and Locus held himself steady as he waited for Felix to give up, effectively pinning him. He tapped out and Locus positioned himself to stand as soon as Felix’s arms let go of his midsection.

“This isn’t over,” Felix wheezed out.

“Maybe not overall, but this fight is mine.”

\---

Locus knew he shouldn’t delight in Felix’s sour attitude. He knew that he shouldn’t smile with every comment that was made about how he couldn’t believe that had worked or about how Locus cheated in some way.

“You used me. You played me. You cheated with every fiber of your being and you are just sitting there gloating about how much better you are than me.” Felix glared over at Locus as he was slid his dinner. “Now you’re trying to placate me with food so I stop feeling so bitter about you. Well GUESS WHAT? It’s not going to work. I’m onto you.” He narrowed his eyes as he watched Locus take a seat. “You think you’re so tough now because you beat me. You’re no better than me. You never will be either.”

“Right.” Locus focused his eyes on the datapad in front of him, detailing the heist the two of them had pulled off the previous day. Tensions were undoubtedly high the entire mission considering it was riding on the coattails of Felix’s recent loss and he had been spitting bitterness and hate the entire time, talking about how Locus was just trying to prove he was better. Locus just wanted to show that Felix wasn't always the better one and level out his ego some. In the time he had spent listening to him piss and moan over the fact that he had lost, he was starting to rethink his approach and wondered if a rematch was in order considering he wasn’t sure how much more he could take of Felix’s incessant whining. He was still doing a good job of tuning him out now, much to Felix’s agitation. Locus could take the sore ribs that he got from being slammed against the wall. He could take the twisted ankle that he only noticed after he started to limp back to his bunk. He could even take the bruises that seemingly popped up out of nowhere that ached each time he touched one. What he couldn’t take was that defeated look in Felix’s eyes when he passed him in the cargo bay the day after. He couldn’t take that pang of guilt knowing that he had knocked Felix down so thoroughly that he was actually hurt by it and was deflecting with all the anger he could muster for the sake of keeping up appearances. There wasn’t much that Felix shared with the world, but the fact that he was actually hurting and they had been partners for several months at this point sat uneasy with him. He told Felix about everything and not being able to get a word in edgewise about what was bothering him about the last job they pulled off wasn’t helping matters.

Locus knew he had to fix this somehow, but it happened to be more complicated than a simple ‘I’m sorry’. Felix was more complexity than that and it showed with how much he was pushing back against everything Locus did for him as a means of apologizing. Locus spoke up for a moment.

“I didn’t do it to hurt you. I wanted to show you that you aren’t the ho--” Locus barely got halfway into his speech before Felix slammed his hands on the table, throwing his fork across the room.

“No! You don’t get to make speeches like this. You don’t You don’t get to tell me that you’re sorry and that you didn’t mean it because I know that you don’t. You don’t give a damn about me at all so don’t even act like you try. I know you purposely beat me for the sake of humiliating me and that is all on you. So save me your words of pity and leave me alone.” Felix flung his food across the table and onto the floor, getting up from his chair and stomping off to his bunk. Locus sat there in silence for a moment before ordering one of the crewmates that they had picked up to clean up the mess Felix made. Locus made his way to Felix’s room, expecting to find him sulking and instead found him sharpening his knife with exact precision as he drug the blade over the sharpening stone.

“What do you want?” Felix ground out, not even looking up from his work.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry.” Locus still felt like he had every right to beat him the way he did even if Felix didn’t see it that way. Yes they had fought dirty but that didn’t mean that he shouldn’t win if he deserved it. He kept that to himself though.

“Too bad, try again. Sorry isn’t going to fucking cut it.” Felix sat onto the floor next to Locus’ feet, not paying attention to where it was going. He didn’t offer an apology and Locus figured he wouldn’t even if he had gotten it onto him.

“But I am sorry. I’m not sorry about beating you though. You have to realize that eventually, I am going to learn you fighting style. We should see this as a way to make ourselves both stronger by critiquing fighting styles instead of using it as a way of building a bigger rift between the two of us. We’re partners, aren’t we?” Locus held out his hand to Felix in an offer of solidarity, hoping that Felix would take it. Felix looked up at the hand, following it up Locus’ arm to glare at him.

“You would like that, wouldn’t you? You would like a reason to humiliate me even more than you already do. I wouldn’t doubt that you got off on making me feel inferior. Well guess what. No. I’m not going to take that kind of deal. I’m in control of me and you can’t change that.” Felix spat again, this time the giant glob hitting Locus’ foot with a sickening splat. “You aren’t going to take advantage of me. I don’t care if you want to call me your partner. That’s not what you are to me.”

Locus stood there, taking the verbal abuse from someone he considered a friend.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, keeping his hand held out. “I want to help you, and in turn, help us?” Locus wanted to keep the offer there.

“Like I said, it isn’t that easy. You think that you can offer an apology that you only thought to say to me after I got pissed and that it would help. It takes a lot more than that. Words aren’t the only thing I live for.”

“Have it your way.” Locus left Felix’s bunk, heading to his own to contemplate just how this was going to affect future missions with Felix acting to acidic towards all of his actions. Things would have to change, either by Felix accepting his apology or by Locus finding someone new to take Felix’s place. The second option left a knot in his stomach that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard he tried not to think about it. Felix helped him realize his potential. He couldn’t give that up. Locus opened the door to his room, tossing his shoes into the corner and unwinding the tape wrapped around his hands. He washed his face of all the grime and dirt from the training room, rubbing his eyes to shove away some of the weariness that he just couldn’t shake.

He waited in bed, wanting to sleep, but his mind wouldn’t shut off. He kept thinking of Felix. Less so about how angry he made him, but how he still needed him. How no matter what he would do, he had to have Felix there to be able to get on in life. The two of them had grown closer over the months and with Felix adding in his own set of flirting to their... whatever they were. Locus wasn’t even sure anymore and with Felix… flirting, it made him more confusing than anything overall. His hand drifted downward, absently thinking about how Felix never did anything anymore but provoke annoyance in him. Right now he was acting like a spoiled child. Before he acted like a friend to a degree, but he still kept himself at a distance. He wanted that Felix back and the hand brushing idly over his erection, barely registering he was swelling in his shorts. Locus grit his teeth, angry at Felix’s attitude and how he felt the need to be so resistant and his hand grasped his hardening shaft, sensation making his hips buck. He hissed out a breath, trying to push away the annoyance. Felix was more pleasing when they were still with the UNSC, he told himself. Felix was more playful then, he reminded himself. He let out a groan, thinking of how much more personable he was then. Felix smiled more then too, he remembered as he hissed in a breath, his thumb working over the base of the glans after rolling down his foreskin. Felix’s smile though. Locus could go on about that smile for days. The way his mouth turned up almost like he was smirking and how the mirth reached his eyes, making them crinkle at the corners made him shiver and grasp his shaft harder as he worked his hand over it. He tried to think of the last time Felix smiled, coming up empty.

Locus thrusted his hips up into his hand, focusing on the sly laughter Felix used when he thought he was better than someone and it sent sparks straight to his groin, surprising him. He looked down, a little concerned at how aroused he was, but pushed it away, absently ghosting his fingers back over his shaft as focus shifted to the thought of the way Felix’s muscles rippled under his skin. He had caught glimpses during their spar just now. Felix’s aggression from the spar consumed him, his hand working over his shaft faster. He stopped for a moment as he was enraptured in Felix’s arms around him, gripping himself tighter and rubbing his thumb at the base of his glans again. His mouth fell open  at the pleasure and he tried not to think of Felix’s mouth on him--- No. Not like that. He refocused on Felix, the slim line of his neck, the curve of his back, the sound of his groans when they sparred and he shuddered, spilling over his hand.

“Ugh.” Locus leaned over the side of the bed, grabbing a discarded shirt and wiped off his hand, his lip curled in disgust at how much he enjoyed that. Yet despite it, he knew he still needed Felix. He needed Felix and there was no way around it. Locus flopped over on the bed onto his side, eyes focused on the ceiling as he waited for sleep.

 


	7. Whiskey Fantasies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't think about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW toward the end.

It was the little things that set him off. Yes the little things like leaving his nail clippings on the floor and hogging the blanket when a mission went sour and Felix worried that the stab wound that made it through his body suit and sliced down the majority of his forearm would open again. Locus had stitched him up, a skill he had learned since pairing with Felix, but that bubble of anger ate away at his throat. He figured he should be happy that the had run out of analgesic prior to the mission and that Felix’s small sounds of hissing agony should be enough to make him happy that he was suffering, but it didn’t help as much as he thought it would. As Locus yanked Felix’s arm back again when he was only half done, he shoved the bottle of alcohol at him.

“Drink some of this and quit complaining. I should be been done by now but you keep moving and it’s making things difficult,” Locus told him as Felix drank a long pull off of the whiskey, face twisting sourly as he realized the good stuff had long since disappeared.

“I wouldn’t complain if you would just hurry up. Are you taking your damn sweet time because you enjoy hurting me or do you actually need seven minutes to do each stitch?” Felix drank another pull, grumbling when Locus looked him straight in the eye and purposely moved slower.

“Do _you_ want to stitch yourself up or should I leave you in the hands of our mechanic who is used to dealing with engine parts? Trust me, either of those is preferable to listening to you complain _yet again_.” Locus finished up his stitching, rubbing down the wound with antiseptic as he had done before; he wanted  to lessen the opportunity for infection so they wouldn’t miss out on any jobs. Felix quickly shut up hissing a little again when the bandage rubbed against his skin. “You’re going to need a new suit too otherwise that armor is not going to be safe outside of this ship unless we’re planetside. Even then, it’s still not good for you to have a gaping hole. We get enough of that from your mouth.” Locus grinned just a little at Felix’s indignant glare. “Dish it out but you can’t take it?” Felix muttered under his breath and looked away, only making Locus grin wider. “What was that? I couldn’t hear your pouting over the sound of your bruised ego.”

“I said ‘I’ll show you who can take it.’ Since ya know, you’re being so damn tough all of a sudden.” The fire in Felix’s eyes made Locus’ stomach turn into knots. He piped down, gathering his supplies and shoving them back into the first aid kit that would need restocking on their next supply run. “Oh? You don’t have a comeback for that one? Seems there are ways of making you shut up just like you do to me. I’ll have to remember that.”

Locus took the supplies and left back to his bunk, Felix heading in the opposite direction. He scoffed when Felix came to his rack.

“Already back for more? Have you ever stopped to think that you are a colleague and nothing more to me?” Just saying the words made him pause a little after because he knew it wasn’t true. Even with all of his bitching and complaining and moaning through every aspect of everything they did, Felix was still the only person who had helped him. Since joining the UNSC, through their squad being decimated, and even after they defected, Felix had been a constant in his life. And he found it comforting. Locus tried to think of what he would be as a soldier without Felix’s prodding and pushing, without that harsh reality check that told him what he should do. Locus swallowed hard, then regained his composure. He wasn’t going to let Felix win with a tantrum, even if the both of them had been at each other’s throats for the last several weeks. Tensions had been rising and with each passing day, one of them was getting close to snapping. Felix had to worry about Locus choking him whereas Locus had to worry about blood loss. They weren’t without their flaws but the tension was making everything worse.

“I’m not apologizing.” Felix closed the distance between the two of them, sitting on the bed next to him and leaning against his shoulder. He picked at the bandage that Locus had just wrapped around his arm less than an hour before, working his finger under the wrappings and hissing softly when he jostled one of the stitches that was holding his skin together.

“When have you ever apologized for anything?” Locus winced a little when Felix hissed again, pulling at one of the stitches as he complained of it itching already. “Would you leave it alone? It isn’t going to heal if you pick at it. It certainly won’t heal if you pick at it right after I stitch it up and you have even less chance of it healing if your dirty little fingers get it infected.”

“My fingers aren’t dirty at all.”

“I wash my hands every time after we spar.” Locus could feel the his stomach churn at the thought.

“That’s because you get all sweaty. Don’t even try to pin that bullshit on me.”

“Well, it also doesn’t help that I don’t know where you’ve been half the time with how much you like to slit the throats of every client and practically bathe in it. That’s not sanitary at all. Of course I wash my hands.” Locus snorted when the indignant expression returned, leaning out of the way when Felix swung at his arm. “Hey!”

“It’s not unsanitary! I’m having fun. Don’t you want me to have fun? I let you intimidate them and practice your _persona_ or whatever it is and half of the time, they end up pissing themselves, so who’s unsanitary now?” Felix started to gloat, shaking his shoulders.

“Still you. You’ve still licked your knife blade after you make them bleed.”

“Shut up.”

\---

Felix’s complaints hadn’t stopped in the days since he stitched him up, checking the wound to ensure that it hadn’t fallen to any kind of infection. Locus was still surprised to find Felix wrapped around him the next morning like nothing had happened, using him like a pillow. The arrangement had started about a month prior and while he didn’t particularly care for it, Locus did nothing to stop it either. He felt pity for the man who needed the comfort of someone else at night just so he could sleep. Nevermind the fact that he had started sleeping better every time Felix fell into bed with him, curling up in front of or behind him. Just his presence made it easier to sleep though a lot of the time Felix would slip out before Locus woke up.

One of the times he hadn’t Locus was surprised to find Felix curled up behind him, barely huddled into the blanket he had slung low over his hips. He let go of some of the blanket that night to better cover Felix so he could drift off to sleep again, snuggling back into the warm body. He didn’t want to admit to himself that he liked it too. He didn’t want to admit it was anything more than pity that allowed him to keep letting Felix into his bed, but the warmth of the body behind him said more than he could. Felix was starting to grow on him and regardless of quips or acidic words, he still found himself allowing him back into his bunk.

Locus tested something one night to see how Felix would react. He locked the door to his room, turned his communicator off and fell asleep like he always did, waiting to see where the night would lead him. He was surprised to not find Felix in bed with him when he woke up, forgetting he had locked the door, but instead found him sleeping outside the door. Locus barely caught a glimpse of the mechanic sneaking away as Locus pulled Felix inside and Felix, mostly unconscious, wrapped his arms around Locus’ shoulders. The two of them flopped onto the bed with Felix curling around him even more affectionately than he normally did. Locus rolled his eyes, not wanting to give into the affection, but found that Felix almost looked human when he was asleep considering his face wasn’t curled into a devilish grin or upturned in a malicious snarl. He couldn’t help brushing the hair back again, pulling away when Felix leaned into the attentions and snuggled himself closer.

Locus woke up before him the next morning, waiting for Felix to wake so he could untangle himself from his arms. Eventually, Felix woke, bleary eyed as he tried to take in his surroundings and found he wasn’t asleep in the hallway like he had initially thought. He pulled away from Locus quickly once he noticed how closely they were positioned.

“Didn’t know you were into taking advantage of my half asleep state. It’s one thing to let me stay when I wander in but---” Felix started, trying to play off why he was outside Locus’ room in the first place.

“Don’t even try that. I found you outside the door so there was nothing for me to take advantage of. Besides, don’t flatter yourself. If I had wanted anything from you, I would have gotten it by now.” Locus tried to ignore the small twinge of hurt that crossed Felix’s that was gone in an instant, masked by the grin.

“Come on. I know you would want to try me out at least once.” Felix tried to keep the conversation focused on him, talking about how Locus would fuck him, how he was important in this, how he was so kind to snuggle with Locus. Locus chose not to acknowledge the statement.

“Where is our next mission? I haven’t heard from Allen in a while and I know he seems to enjoy contacting you over me for whatever reason.” Locus shifted on his feet as soon as he got up, trying to push away the feeling there was something more going on with their employer and Felix. It didn’t sit right with him how often Felix would have communications from Mr. Allen and how often he wouldn’t be contacted. He wouldn’t say he was jealous of the attention that Felix was receiving, more that Felix chose to invest his need for attention in so many people at once instead of sticking with a smaller group of people.

“Fine. Change the subject. No. He hasn’t said anything yet, but we should be getting a job in a day or two. I know he wants us to pick up some more crew members because of the minimal crew we have here and he seems to be hinting that we will be acquiring a larger ship soon. Just a hunch. I have no idea. He doesn’t tell me as much as _you_ think he does.” Felix rolled onto his back, staring at Locus’ ceiling like he had done so many times before. “I know it has something to do with bank accounts. Stuff with numbers. Things you seem to like. You know, nerd stuff.”

Locus grunted. “So good to know you take me so seriously. Speaking of numbers, do any of them look like the ones on those papers that you chastised me for grabbing back on our first mission?” Locus waited for Felix to realize what Locus had known for months, since he first saw the papers in the first place.

“You don’t mean?” Felix sat there in disbelief. “Did you seriously? I mean actually and truly, did you jack a bunch of bank accounts and hand them to me in a wad like they were candy wrappers?”

“You _did_ keep them, right?” Locus clenched his jaw, hoping Felix didn’t potentially lose them a handful of money.

“Of course I did. Why didn’t you say something about them before?”

“I wanted to see if you could figure it out without me. Seems you can’t.” Locus flashed a grin as he headed to his bathroom with Felix trailing behind him angrily.

“You know what?” he growled, hanging in the doorway to the bathroom as Locus grabbed his toothbrush. Locus raised an eyebrow. “Nevermind. We should get a move on. That way we can get this done and figure out how much I really do owe you for picking up these papers.”

“A lot.”

\---

“I didn’t know you could have that many digits on a single bank account. How did you? Seriously, why the fuck did you keep this from me for so long?” Felix sat there, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he stared over the reading glasses for one of the few missions they would take out of their standard, regulation armor. Felix had been making modifications to his own, adding pieces when he could afford to, and it seemed he would be able to make the rest of them once they had the chance to not only pick up the bank accounts they needed to acquire for their employer, but figure out just how much was in the ones they had been holding onto for months. Felix stared in disbelief.

“Did you really doubt my ability to be useful?” Truth be told, Locus had no idea that the papers were numbers to bank accounts, nor did he know that they contained every bit of information needed to drain them dry as well. However, he wasn’t about to tell Felix that at all. He had gotten lucky and it was earning him favor with Felix, though he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He kept trying to push those feelings down, especially after the other night. He didn’t want to be anymore awkward than he already was so he kept of a mask of stoicism, shutting everyone out as much as he could. Felix saw through it though, from what he could tell, finding himself on the receiving end of many conversations asking why he was shutting Felix out as well as Mr. Allen. Locus simply shrugged and continued on with his training. He ignored Felix and went back to cleaning his gun. He denied his own thoughts and pushed them away, refusing to acknowledge why he was suddenly thinking of his partner differently. They had just spent a lot of time together and Felix’s actions towards him didn’t help either. This wouldn’t be a problem if Felix had stayed out of his bed. This wouldn’t be a problem if Felix didn’t treat him like a partner in every sense of the word and not just strictly like two people who worked together, like he wanted.

“Yo, Locus. Snap out of it. I need you here and not off in LaLa land. Pay attention.” Felix snapped his fingers in front of Locus’ face, grabbing his jaw to refocus his attention on the screen in front of them. “Can you transfer the money? The people are dead and problem is, no one is going to know to do anything without someone they know coming and closing out the account. We were quiet enough about it that chances are nobody knows they’re gone just yet, even if it’s been months since we were there. So can you do it?” Locus couldn’t help the strange feeling in his stomach at the pout Felix gave him while batting his eyes, even if he knew he was being sarcastic.

“I can give it a shot. I think you have more expertise in that regard than I do.” Locus put his fingers to work as Felix worked his arms around his shoulders, tensing a little at the casual display but soon relaxing into it. Felix’s hair tickled at his ear as he pressed the side of his face against his, trying to make sense of what he was doing.

“Looks like you do know what you’re doing. You should teach me in case it comes up when you aren’t with me one of these time. Could come in handy for ensuring that we have enough of a retirement to be able to afford a small planet.” Felix rubbed his cheek against Locus’ and Locus tensed slightly again, wondering what kind of angle Felix was getting at with the affections even if they weren’t entirely unwelcome.

“Well, first you need to match up the account numbers. Then you need to enter the amounts as well as the secured personal information for the sake of ensuring you have everything in the right spot.” Locus pointed to the pieces on the screen, showing Felix exactly what he was doing with the account as he drained it of the funds that would soon hit their other account where they stored much of their money that they picked up on missions. “After you get everything transferred, it’s a simple process of spreading it out over several account or by having Mr. Allen take it out because it doesn’t look suspicious if he does it. Or at least it shouldn’t.” Felix nodded at Locus’ explanation, standing back up and pulling away from him.

“Makes sense. I’ll probably still have you do it since you seem to know how it works though.” Felix grinned when Locus frowned. “Oh don’t give me that.”

“Remind me to take out a fee for my services.”

“What all do your services buy?” Felix waggled his eyebrows.

“Shut up.”

\---

The travel back from the mission proved different from previous. Locus had expected Felix to be happy, but this time, he was down right giddy. Locus had noticed the younger man hadn’t stopped grinning, babbling on about money and plans for it.

“Seriously, a television the size of a billboard. Yes there are other things that are important, but that’s up on the list because I can’t think of anything I want more than a television that large. I seriously need to design a home around having a TV that large because I know that if I had the money to buy it and I didn’t, I would regret it.” Felix laughed and Locus saw the years of military training melt away from him. He barely knew anything about him but seeing him this passionate about something made him at least the tiniest bit happy that these accounts came into his-- no their-- possession, allowing him more ability to get closer to the soldier he allowed himself to be paired with. He shook his head, amused in his own way, setting their small shuttle back to the small frigate that Allen had issued to them to carry out missions.

Locus excused himself to his room once they got back, claiming fatigue from piloting the shuttle back from the mission as the main cause for excusing himself. Felix frowned for a moment, then rolled his eyes, dismissing it.

“Just come out of your room for once, dude. We have to make plans for this money and if we’re going to keep on like this, we probably need a bigger ship which means hiring a larger crew. Might be worth it.” Felix flashed another grin, making Locus’ chest feel a little tight at the display. He hit the button to close the door to his room, shedding his armor. They had grown accustomed to taking it with them on missions and right now, the armor chaffed in all the wrong places as he struggled to calm himself down so he could think straight. _Why is just thinking about Felix doing this? Is it because we’ve been working together for a while?_ He stripped out of his body suit once the armor was gone, heading to the shower to wash away the grime that had built up on the mission. The metallic creak of the water spigots turning on made him wince, and he jumped a little to get away from the too cold water.

“You would think in the years since showers were created that they would have learned how to make it come out hot or warm all the time so no one had to deal with this,” he muttered to no one, his hand traveling downward to stroke himself absently to start. Locus was plagued with the raw happiness bubbling out of Felix on the way back from the mission, the laughter emanating from his mouth arousing him surprisingly. Only now had he realized how much it had affected him with his erection jutting out as the water cascaded over him, just now aware of how turned on he was at the idea of Felix being happy. He leaned his head against the wall as he used it to support himself, his hand speeding up as he thought of Felix laughing again. The previous few nights had changed things somehow and the expanses of skin that Felix had touched, or at least the part of armor where he had wrapped his arms around Locus’ shoulders tingled. The feeling shot straight to his shaft, making it twitch in his hand and this time, he let himself slip into the fantasy. Into the thought of Felix’s mouth around him, taking him in softly and burying his nose in the short curled hairs at the base of his length. Locus gasped out a moan at the thought, hand speeding up when he thought of that lithe tongue running over the base of his shaft and swirling over the sensitive skin of his glans once he slid back the foreskin. Locus tried to stop his jaw from quivering, trying to hold back the orgasm that was building in him, but the thumb that brushed against the too sensitive frenum made his hips buck, his semen spilling down the drain as he desperately tried to catch his breath.

“So much for chain of command,” he choked out. Felix was his partner, not _this_.

 


	8. Rematch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don’t let on. Do not let Felix know what you did. It meant nothing. It was nothing. He’s not going to buy it. The casual grin on Felix’s face didn’t bode well for his situation, making his loins stir as much as he hated to admit it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter rated explicit for sexual content

_Don’t let on. Do not let Felix know what you did. It meant nothing. It was nothing. He’s not going to buy it._ The casual grin on Felix’s face didn’t bode well for his situation, making his loins stir as much as he hated to admit it.

“So, since I’m in such a good mood, are you ready for a rematch? I still haven’t gotten you back for beating me last time and I want you to remember that I’m the one on top here.” Felix flashed a grin and Locus hurried to put the rest of his armor on, tucking his dreads into his helmet and trying to hide the strangled expression on his face. _Hide it._ Locus nodded.

“Armor this time though. You’re too fast when you don’t have something weighing you down. That was readily apparent when I pinned you, though…” Locus let his mind wander a little, snapping back with the click of Felix’s fingers.

“Yeah well, you were using dirty tricks. Besides, you looked good under me the first time.” Felix winked before he put on his helmet, and Locus was thankful for his own helmet already being in the way, hiding the expression on his face. Locus shook his head in mock annoyance, not wanting to give anything away.

“Come on. We have a job to do first. Get in. Get out. Then we can decide who’s better of the two of us.” Locus stopped when Felix dramatically bowed in front of him, holding his hands out.

“After you, my good sir,” he quipped sarcastically, following behind Locus on the way to the shuttle.

“I hate you.”

\---

Locus lived for the simplicity of missions. Allen had chosen an easy one for them this time. Go in, take out the person in question, get out. No fancy infiltrations or people to deal with. As Locus lined up the shot with his newly acquired sniper rifle, Felix checked their surroundings to ensure that the coast was clear for the two of them to take the man out. Seconds later, the man was gone and their mission was complete. The two of them slipped away as quickly as they came. Felix handed over his knife to Locus as they flew back in their shuttle to the frigate, with Felix piloting this time as a way of switching off.

“What’s this for?” Locus took the knife anyway, looking back at Felix for an explanation.

“Tally your kill.” Felix nodded over to the sniper rifle in the seat behind him, indicating that he should keep track of each person he killed with it.

“You can’t be serious. It’s a rifle. Why do I need to keep track of how many people I kill with it?” Locus grabbed it anyway to pacify Felix as he flew, fearing that the younger man would take his eyes off the skies just long enough to crash the two of them into a cliffside before they got a chance to get into orbit.

“So you have proof of all the people you have ended on your path to meeting anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to fuck with you.” Felix fixed his eyes back on the horizon, heading toward the frigate just outside of the atmosphere. Locus nodded slowly, scratching a tally into the flat end of the stock. Locus handed the knife back, handle first with the blade in his hand. Felix grinned as he took it back, sliding it into the newly acquired sheath after the old one had succumbed to wear and tear.

“How does it feel to kill someone with that thing?” Felix asked genuinely.

“Like nothing. It was so far away that it didn’t even feel like I did it. More impersonal.” Locus sounded a little lost with the explanation, shrugging after.

“Nothing like the knife huh?” Locus could tell that Felix was grinning under his helmet again and he suppressed the feelings that stirred from it.

“Nothing like a pistol or DMR either. It was so long range that I could probably do it one hundred times and not feel a thing.” Locus pet his fingers over the stock where he had just marred the casing, figuring he would have more to add on their next mission as well.

“Well, there ya go. Soldiers shouldn’t feel anything when they take out their opponent. You should feel nothing for them because you are trained to take them out.” Felix clapped his hand on Locus’ shoulder after the man turned to put the rifle away in the cargo space behind them.

“It’s just a weird thing to think about because of all the people that could be connected to that one person. I mean, what if I just erased someone who meant something to someone else?” Locus’ question hung in the air.

“No no no, you can’t think of it like that. Cut the existentialist crap because it’s just going to make you terrible at your job. You’re a soldier and you follow your orders. If you are told to kill someone, then the guilt is on the person who gave you the order, not you. You’re just the weapon they are using to carry out the action.” Felix grinned when Locus seemed satisfied with the answer, calming his fidgeting. “See, nothing to worry your pretty little head about.” Locus clenched his hands and released them anyway as a way of calming himself though he didn’t understand where the bout of anxiety had come from.

“I just. I need to work some of this out because thinking about it has made me feel a little off and now, I just want to… I don’t even know.” Felix’s hand on his shoulder wasn’t helping matters either. Even though he had touched him minutes ago, he couldn’t stop thinking about it and that had his mind racing more than the kill.

“Then we’ll fight it out like we do. You owe me that rematch and it seems like you could use it.”

\---

“You’re not even trying. Jesus dude.” Felix relaxed his stance. “I’m not even going to bother if all you’re going to do is absorb the shock of my blows. It’s more fun when you fight back. Stop being so submissive.” Locus growled out a groan at what he called an insult, readying his stance again and glaring at Felix.

“Fine. Come at me, bro.” Locus held his hands up in the same defensive position, trying to taunt Felix by mimicking him, but his stature was more guarded. Felix had demanded a rematch, but that was before things had… shifted between the two of them. Locus was certain that Felix hadn’t caught on to the change in Locus beyond what he called out just now, but he preferred it. Another thing that made this spar easier was that he had the concealment of the armor helping him. Locus wasn’t sure he would be able to conceal anything if Felix managed to brush against him just right, especially if Locus managed to pin him. Locus’ mind wandered a little, thinking of pressing his hips down against Felix’s and returning the affections the younger man had previously extended to him. Locus didn’t even want the romantic end of it. Just satisfying the need to see if he even needed Felix like that was enough. He soon figured that his daydreams would cost him when Felix rushed him in his dazed state, pushing him against the wall and pinning his arms behind his back. Locus snapped to it when he slammed against the wall, grunting as the air left his lungs momentarily, and then pushed back against Felix to gain the upper hand again.

“What’s that? You don’t like not being in control? Or are you pushing against me because you like it when we fight like this?” Felix didn’t expect the quiet moan that escaped Locus’ lips at his words, looking down and noticing him rutting against the padded wall of the training room. “Oh you like this don’t you? Isn’t that an interesting little turn of events. And here I thought you didn’t want me like that.” Felix pulled away from Locus, stripping off his codpiece and chest armor and throwing his helmet to the floor. “Let’s do this. Winner gets the loser.”

“Fine. Loser also takes care of the dirty work on the next mission.” Locus swallowed hard, but threw his helmet to the floor along with his chest armor and codpiece. Felix laughed at the rules, grinning widely.

“Oh you’re on. You just signed yourself up for me claiming you as well as cleaning up all the bodies I plan to leave for you. This is going to be great.” Felix left his fighting stance, standing up fully to look up to the ceiling, like he was thanking a deity. “I want everyone to know that I am so happy at whatever happened to allow this to unfold. It’s like my birthd--” Felix didn’t finish his thought before Locus lunged at him, arms around his midsection and pinned him to the ground. He took his chance to lob a series of punches towards Felix’s face, intent on winning, but he was blocked before he even got a chance to land one on his intended target. Felix kicked him off easily since Locus didn’t ground himself well before landing on him and rolling over to pin him. “Hmmm, this position has promise, but I don’t see it as how I want you that first time.”

“Get off,” Locus growled out as he kicked Felix away, snarling as the taller man licked his lips.

“What’s wrong? Don’t like the attention?” Felix held his hands up to block again, grinning behind his arms and advancing on Locus when his anger made him slip and lose his footing, giving Felix an opportunity to sweep his legs and pin him on his back again. “We keep ending up like this.”

“Stop that.” Locus kicked him off again, running away from him a little and regaining the lost ground. Locus wasn’t entirely sure what he was trying to stop, especially considering he had been thinking about it so much. He waited a little too long before he turned around and found himself pinned against the wall again, this time with Felix’s leg rutting up against him through their body suits.

“You should just let me win at this point. I know you want this too. The tension has been building for weeks and I’ve heard you at night. You thought you were quiet, but that time in the shower? Oh boy, you put on quite the show.” Felix leaned forward and licked the shell of Locus ear, pressing his hips more firmly against Locus’. “Give in to me like you know you want to.” Locus wasn’t able to catch the whimper that escaped his throat at Felix’s words, relaxing under his touch and pressing back against Felix’s hips.

“I yield,” Locus rasped out, barely audible.

“So I win?” Felix asked eagerly, fingers already on the zipper that released the lower half of the body suit. “You’re mine for a short while?”

“I’m not cleaning up your kills though.” Locus choked back a moan as Felix’s hands were already working their way into his body suit, pressing against the front of his hips and pulling him back against him to bend him over a little.

“Fine fine. I have other ways to alleviate my excitement.” Felix grinned and Locus paid little attention to what Felix’s hands were doing as he refused to look back, focusing on the sensations instead. He heard a cap pop open and he turned his head in surprise, Felix’s eyes open wide. “What?”

“Where in the hell do you keep a bottle of lube.” The dead delivery of Locus’ words made Felix burst into laughter, not stopping him from spreading the liquid on his fingers after pulling off his glove and circling the rim of Locus’ anus, pressing a finger into him.

“Same place I keep everything else: my tactical pack.” Felix laughed again when Locus tried to roll his eyes and instead they just got wide as Felix added another finger. “Weren’t expecting that were you?” Locus grunted ambiguously, refusing to answer, far too worried about how tight the front of his body suit had gotten. A few minutes passed and Felix freed his shaft from his own body suit, ignoring the shiver from Locus when he pressed the lubed tip against him. He started to push into him, groaning at how much he was gripping onto him, the rough moan rumbling in Locus’ throat shooting straight to his cock.

"Jesus, I can barely get it in you. Relax, dude." Felix pushed a little more before stilling to give him a moment, looking around to check on him.

"I am." Locus grunted.

"You don't sound relaxed. When was the last time you had sex?" Felix tried to contain the chuckle and failed miserably when Locus turned around to attempt to swing at him.

"It's been a while." Locus looked back quickly.

"No wonder you're such a tightass." Felix pushed in a little further, making Locus groan as he tried to dodge another swing. “Ah ah ah, tonight I get you. You can hit me after.” Felix slowly pulled out of him, noting the hiss when he pushed back in. “You okay?”

“Uh, yeah.” Locus’ eyes fluttered open at the touch of concern, pulling him out of the idea that Felix was the cold unfeeling monster he played.

“Just making sure.” Felix upped his pace and the thought soon left him when he sped up a little faster than he had time to adjust for but Locus’ protests died when Felix brushed the bundle of nerves that made his own shaft jump in pleasure.

“Holy--.” Locus growled out, digging his gloved hands into the padding on the wall. The indents told Felix he was doing a good job so he angled for that spot again with the growl returning.

“Are you going to beg for me to fuck you harder?” Felix purred out, leaning forward to ensure that Locus felt his hot breath on his ear, pulling back and thrusting back into him harder without waiting for an answer.

“No,” Locus ground out, more trying to convince himself as he got closer to making a mess in his body suit.“Stop talking.”

“Why? Because it turns you on so much?” Felix continued with the cat like tone.

“Because you’re ruining the moment.” Locus closed his eyes, focusing on keeping his legs steady, himself upright, anything but Felix talking because he was certain he was about to fall over from the over stimulation. Felix rolling his hips upwards certainly helped the situation though, earning him a choked moan and Locus punching tiny holes into the padding of the walls with his fingers.

With each thrust, varying speed, every whisper, Locus found himself awash with pleasure and it still baffled him it was coming from Felix. As he got closer to completion, Felix emitted little grunts and moans himself, and each one inched him a little closer to touching himself. Locus finally grasped his length, surprised when Felix’s hand joined his.

“You focus on staying upright.” Felix leaned in closer after he wrapped his hand around Locus’ shaft, his other hand holding his hips close, steady. Locus eyes fluttered, losing himself more with each touch. Felix’s hands were delicate, unlike what he expected, holding him firm as he thrust and stroked him. Locus held them up by keeping his arms pushed out, eyes squeezing shut when he finally orgasmed. He should have laughed at how it hit the wall and the floor instead too focused on Felix’s movements, crying out when he hit the bundle of nerves to the point of almost painfully oversensitive. Felix came soon after, half-slumping against his back and murmuring as he pulled out, leaving Locus’ body suit a mess. The two of them caught their breath, and Felix pulled away first. He tucked himself back into his body suit, grabbed his armor and started for the door.

“Told you I would win.”

\---

After cleaning himself up, Locus wasn’t entirely sure what to make of what just happened. He didn’t say no, but to say he desired what happened? Okay yeah, there was some of that too. It just was odd in how it all came about. Since when was he the type to bet on sex? Since when was he the type to think that getting himself into that kind of situation was a good idea? He reeled still, thinking that he had gotten too far into it. Screw it. This was something to control. They were partners. This shouldn’t change how they acted in that regard. What did it matter what he and Felix did so long as they got the job done? It shouldn’t. Locus’ mind wandered to the varying implications of what this could mean later, having remembered other soldiers talk about partners in the sexual regard. He had little experience in how to deal with such things, considering it only happened few and far between, but it was the fact of the matter that it happened. He wasn’t going to let it get in the way of things for sure because that was not how he wanted to conduct himself. He had to wonder about Felix though. Locus stepped in the shower after throwing his semen covered body suit into the crate in the corner, intending on hosing it down before their next mission. _Disgusting_. It wasn’t that he and Felix had sex in the first place, but the fact that it was so… messy. He groaned in disgust looking back at the crate and stepped into the shower spray, washing himself down initially. He blinked into the shower wall as the water washed over him, shock starting to set in. He wasn’t even sure if Felix counted as his superior officer anymore, but this was a conflict of interest. He wasn’t sure if he wanted it to happen again, but he knew it shouldn’t. He grabbed the washcloth, working the bar soap into it to get a lather going. Locus worked his hands over himself, first ridding himself of the grime that followed wearing the bodysuit, then paying attention to getting rid of the semen that was still dripping out of him. Next time, if there was one, he was going to insist on some kind of barrier to reduce mess, at the very least. His mind raced a bit at the thought of disease and quickly squashed it, resolving to check out something the next time they landed planetside.

Yet despite all the problems surrounding his coupling with Felix just now, it wasn’t like it had felt bad. Just not something he would do. With Felix. Or many others. He hadn’t even considered it in such a long time, he had forgotten all the sensations that had gone with it, and they weren’t exactly unwelcome. Just the thought of Felix sliding back into him made him stiffen like he had been before, looking down at his shaft in confusion as to where this line of everything had come from. He was not the kind who just went after anyone with a pulse, but to be fair, he had been in closer proximity to Felix than anyone else lately. He groaned in frustration, swallowing hard and wrapped his hand around his shaft, grunting in annoyance.

“I hate you, Felix.”


	9. Mercurial Shifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Locus still didn’t have a full grasp as to what was going on between him and his partner. Nearly two weeks had passed since their coupling in the training room and Locus still wasn’t sure what to make of it at all. He had sat up late at night since that first when it happened, thinking about just what it meant to him. Did he care about Felix? The question had haunted him over the nights, badgering him into finally making him think about what Felix meant to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please listen to this while reading. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl0DMTlwLw4

Locus still didn’t have a full grasp as to what was going on between him and his _partner_. Nearly two weeks had passed since their coupling in the training room and Locus still wasn’t sure what to make of it at all. He had sat up late at night since that first when it happened, thinking about just what it meant to him. Did he care about Felix? The question had haunted him over the nights, badgering him into finally making him think about what Felix meant to him. He was a partner yes, but Felix had done so much for him. He showed him the ropes when he got to the base. He taught him humility, to get over what was bothering him. He taught him to improve himself and find what it was that he needed to achieve in order to climb the ladder to perfection. Locus certainly appreciated Felix a great deal, but deep down, did he care about him? He hadn’t really been faced with a situation where he had to think about the meaning of care in relation to Felix. Would he be upset if suddenly Felix wasn’t there?

He felt a pang in his chest at the idea and decided, yes, he would, circling him around to decide that he did care for the brash man of Korean descent. He cared about him in the sense that he would be upset if he was suddenly gone, making him think that the meaning behind this care ran deeper than he realized at the moment. He grunted in frustration, throwing his pillow over his face. He knew that wasn’t all of it though. He hadn’t been with anyone in years and here he was, allowing someone into his… bed wasn’t the right word. Training room. Locus grunted again at how ridiculous it sounded, pushing himself out of bed ten minutes before his morning alarm usually woke him. Morning routine consisted of cleaning, armoring up, breakfast, drills, a laundry list of mundane tasks that had only been getting longer the more that he and Felix worked for Allen.

Allen was another batch of confusion. The more he thought about it, the more he found it weird that he would only talk to Felix or the both of them together. He didn’t mind not having to deal with Allen on a personal basis, however, it nagged at him. The little nuances of how the two interacted started to become noticeable as well. The looks lingered a little more. Locus never saw Allen touch him, either of them, but the way he looked at Felix made him wonder. Locus stopped. Why did he care about what Allen was thinking about Felix? Why was he bothering with this at all? Why was he allowing himself to get so worked up? Training. Training needed to happen now.

The focus on the physical activity made him less edgy, though looking over at the wall they had fucked against still stirred up thoughts in him. Why was he still focusing on the act in the first place? It wasn’t different than any other time he had been with someone so why was he hyper focusing on it so much? He needed to get out of his head and now. He needed Felix out of his head too.

Locus refused to think of Felix until after he got to training, not leaving his armor this time to ensure that nothing unusual would happen. He barely liked Felix. They worked together so the idea of them having sex confused him, as it should. He just couldn’t get it out of his head. Some nights, he would go to bed, thinking about Felix’s breath on the back of his neck, hot and wet. He would try to forget it, swallowing down the memory of Felix moving behind him, but his words had etched themselves into his brain and it was all he could do to keep from alleviating his frustrations into his hand like he had done a few nights prior. He didn’t want to give into it, but he felt compelled. He resisted the urge, because deep down, he knew it was just to make the arousal go away and not because he wanted to engage in more of the illicit activity. The concept of having a sexual partner confused him and on the basis of having a regular one even more.

Locus sighed. Felix was becoming a beginning to an endless stream of frustrations just stemming from this event. This didn’t include previous incidents including the man and yet here he was, still partnered with him, still working with him, still not going to give him up. He could control this though. He could push it down and not address it because it was easier than dealing with the reality of the situation. They were partners and unless there was good reason to change that, be it a knife to the throat or a gun in the face, Locus didn’t care to see the point of complicating it by adding a seemingly pointless relationship to the mix. Feelings got in the way of success. Success led them to more missions. Missions could prove perfection.

\---

After completing his workout, Locus retired to his bunk around midafternoon. Felix had been passing by the training room more than usual and it had him on edge, antsy. Avoidance seemed like the best idea for now until he got his ideas sorted out on the matter regarding Felix, but he doubted he would be able to come to a conclusion soon.

He laid on his bed and tried to think about anything but everything he had been thinking about for the last two weeks. He tried to think about strategic plans for missions and recipes for bombs. He tried to recall all of the exits on a pelican, should they ever have a use for one again, going over all of the safety features. His focus needed to be elsewhere, yet orange and grey flooded his mind. He didn’t want to think about sparring again because he feared Felix would take that as an invitation to pin him against the wall again, and no matter how soft his hands were, he didn’t want to have it happen again. Not at least until he figured out what it all meant to him and he wasn’t even sure he would want it then.

“Locus.” The mechanical engineer called for him from his doorway, looking over at him as he snapped out of his thoughts.

“Soldier?” Locus tried not to betray the uncertainty in his voice at the mechanic coming for him to call him away from his room.

“Felix asked for you. Says it’s urgent. He’s in the conference room.” The mechanic left as soon as he came, not wanting to stay too close to Locus for any longer than he had to. Locus thought for a bit longer, not getting out of his bunk right away. Felix hadn’t asked for him at all in the last two weeks. They hadn’t received any missions. Nothing but the two of them and their thoughts and he was baffled that Felix would call for him now. He made the walk to the conference room last longer than he would have normally, not wanting to speed up the process just yet. His pace was deliberate, controlled like how he tried to have every other aspect of his life. Felix seemed to be only a source of chaos.

“There you are,” Felix purred, pushing Locus up against the wall with his arms on either side of his face. He looked down slightly and Locus wet his lips, nervous at how quickly the tables had turned just from walking in the door. “Been wondering what you’ve been up to since our time a couple weeks ago. How’s my Luca been?” Locus stood there in stunned silence for a few minutes, trying to process exactly what Felix meant by it. _His?_ _Luca?_ Felix knew he had abandoned that name long ago, so why bring it up now? It made no sense. “Luca?” Locus froze. “You never call me Luca. Not anymore. What do you want?” For once, Locus didn’t have to fake the annoyance, subtly tapping his boot as he waited on Felix. Locus looked away from Felix growing uncomfortable from having him so close. He felt trapped, which was fitting the way they were positioned. Felix’s hand left the wall, caressing Locus’ jaw and Felix kissed along the curve.

“Is it not obvious…?” Felix’s eyes slipped closed when Locus slowly pulled away, gritting his teeth slightly at the affectionate gesture. What was he doing?

“Felix, what are you doing? You’re acting strange. Do you need a medic?” Locus asked, confused, pushing Felix back to give himself some space. Felix touching him like that confused him a little. “What do you want?” There, push him back and make him focus. That always works.

“Touchy. What crawled up your ass tonight? Certainly wasn’t me. Though---” Felix started, flashing a trademark grin before Locus cut him off, lips dropping into a frown.

“Enough. What do you want?” Locus balled his hands into fists, refocusing his confusion.. Stay calm. Stay controlled. Don’t let him confuse you.

“Fine. Be that way.” Felix walked away over to the table that had gone unnoticed until now, glowing blue with coordinates. “Allen sent over another mission. Simple shit. Go in, steal shit, get out. He wants to send you along for the sake of getting you better practiced on killing people without thinking about it. Seems you’re already in the mood for that kind of thing. Just imagine them with my face, okay buddy?” Locus’ breath rumbled in his throat, the growl inaudible, but he could feel it. He wanted to wipe the smug look off of Felix’s mouth.

“What does it pay?” Locus asked once he surveyed the table, looking at navigation points, the hit, what to grab.

“Standard fee. He’s not offering a bonus this time though. Something about paying us too much for being glorified murderers.” Felix rolled his eyes. “He says it every fucking time too. So, you in? He wants you in. Could get you some more practice with that sniper rifle. Get you a new slash.”

“Fine.” Even at the prospect of practicing more with long range, he still didn’t like the idea of Felix trying to manipulate him like this. He moved away from the table, shooting a glance over his shoulder. “I’m going to go ensure my rifle is in good working order still. Properly brief me when you have all the information.” Locus headed back to his room, attitude soured by Felix’s presence. Who was he to think he could talk to him like that? Locus breathed deep, grabbing his sniper rifle and started to disassemble it. Pulling the barrel off, cleaning it, taking each piece and properly oiling it as needed, cleaning, shining, ensuring everything was meticulously polished and cleaned and worked his fingers over every inch. He knew he was repeating his actions needlessly, but he needed to ensure he didn’t march back over to the conference room and hit Felix over something like this. He needed to keep his hands busy and work out the frustration.

He reassembled the rifle once all of the oiled parts were properly dry, checking the barrel to ensure all the parts were in the right place. As he slid the last piece in, he checked the sights, already feeling calmer from working with his hands and getting his mind off of Felix’s smug attitude. He let out a deep breath, finally calm from it.

That calm soon faded when Felix came to tell him the details of their mission.

\---

Locus folded his arms in the passenger seat of the shuttle as Felix went over the details again, just to make sure Locus understood. Locus looked back in the direction of the frigate that they always left to orbit the planets they would drop down onto, wishing he had stayed behind for once. He took it a step further and wished he had gotten reassigned to a different outpost in the UNSC, but now it was too late and he had to deal with living with his pile of money in his bank account, as Felix would often remind him. The internal sarcasm had to go. Locus grabbed his sniper from the back seat, preparing himself as they made their descent into the city. Opening the hatch and exiting the shuttle, Locus pulled up his nav points on his HUD, marking where he would be when the target came into view.

“Remember: I’m going to go in and distract him. He should head out onto the balcony. Once he does, you take him out and I can grab his computer and we can get out of here.” Felix went over the details, getting himself into plainer clothes than just his armor.

“I remember. You went over it already. Really, I just want to get this over considering Allen talks about giving us bigger jobs than petty theft and murder. I want something more substantial. Something bigger.” Locus slung his rifle over his back and pulled out his pistol, checking their perimeter as Felix started to head toward where his pickup was.

“Well, I could give you something bigger once we get back to the ship. I’m not sure if that’s really what you’re looking for, but it might slake your thirst for a little while for bigger and better things.” Felix flipped his hair out of his eyes, waving at him nonchalantly before he looked back to see Locus’ pistol aimed at his head. “What the fuck dude?”

“Not. Here.” Locus lowered his weapon, shaking his head and heading to his nav point. “We are here to do a mission. Now, make sure that your headset is on the correct frequency and your tracker is on so I know where you are. I don’t want to have to come hunting for you in case he chooses to get confrontational.”

“Right, okay. Be all concerned after you threaten me. Great way to handle that. Really feel the _concern._ ”

\---

 _Breathe. You need to breathe._ Locus repeated his mantra as he waited for Felix’s signal. With the tap in his ear, he only heard what Felix wanted him to hear and he had been ‘dark’ for lack of a better term for the last hour and a half after arriving at the waypoint. Despite Felix’s comment before he went, Locus still had to wonder what was keeping Felix so busy when his microphone clicked on for a moment. All he heard was a moan for not more than a second, staring into the distance at the balcony in disbelief. There’s no way. No, there was a way and he considered firing several warning shots into the unsuspecting bedroom as a way of letting Felix know he had gotten the message. He didn’t regret telling Felix no before the mission, but he didn’t understand why he had to involve it as a part of their hit. He had to wonder what Allen thought of this arrangement, but he always remembered Allen told the two of them to complete the mission by any means necessary, whatever that meant. Allen was probably the one who told Felix to do it in the first place and the thought made him sick. Was seducing him a part of that plan as well in order to make him more compliant with Felix’s needs with how much Locus pushed against his wishes? His lip curled in disgust and he tried to think of varying ways that he could beat Felix into the ground for deceiving him like this. _No, breathe. Breathe and you will be able to get past this._ It wasn’t like Felix had used him for his own personal game. He had flirted with him long before they even took up employment with Allen, but the thought still nagged at him, making him think that Locus was nothing more than a hit and sex. This wouldn’t work with them being partners at all if Felix didn’t respect him enough to give him the entire story. He needed the full story as well as everything involving--- wait. Where was he to demand such things. All he really needed to know was that Felix was clean. He didn’t care who he slept with. Did he? Locus shook his head, hunkering down again to look over at the balcony.

“Locus.” Felix sounded a little winded, though based on the moan he heard, he shouldn’t be entirely surprised.

“Report.”

“I have him subdued.” Felix sounded a little less winded with that report, making Locus roll his eyes.

“I bet you do. What took you so long?” Locus looked for the balcony door to open, for their target to emerge and for them to leave and collect their money.

“I ran into a problem. Seems someone has a fetish and you know how I am with attention.” Felix didn’t even try not to sound like he was proud to share that information and it made Locus sick.

“Good to know you want such a close and personal relationship with soon to be corpses. How long until he leaves the room so we can leave after I kill him?” Locus got his rifle into position, finally seeing the turn of the handle.

“Should be headed your way right now, big boy,” Felix drew out, making Locus’ skin crawl.

Locus leveled his sniper, seeing the big domed forehead of the balding man in front of him. He took a sick satisfaction that he was ending this man’s life with the pull of a trigger, finding it way too easy to do it for once. Locus turned the channel down, headed back for the shuttle.

\---

Felix would have accused him of pouting if he knew why Locus had locked himself away after coming back from their mission. He just couldn’t get over how stupid he had been to think that Felix cared for him more than just an operative and--- yeah. It wasn’t like he even wanted that. _I’m not going to admit I want it at least. So much can change so quickly and it’s easier to think that it doesn’t exist._ Locus growled as he waited for the moment to pass, looking over at his rifle and the newly etched mark in it. This one felt different. Sour like he swallowed spoiled milk and it churned in his stomach. He felt that way anyway thinking he was naive enough that Felix would be interested in caring about just him. That brought him back to his previous questions he asked himself before the two of them had left for the mission. Did he care about Felix? He told himself no but the pit in his stomach said yes. It could be the proximity. It could be the fact that Felix was the first person to bother to get close to him in any modicum since joining the military, but it could also be that it felt like Felix understood him. So much of his life up to this point focused on hiding who he was and while he was trying to toughen himself up for the sake of mercenary work, he found it comforting that he wasn’t doing it alone. He joked about being the one that would end Felix, but actually carrying out the order and killing Felix filled him with dread. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do it at all.

“You disappeared quick.” Felix stood in his doorway as he put his armor away, leaning against the doorframe. He still hadn’t changed out of the clothes that he wore on the mission and it made it even harder for Locus to focus.

“Not everyone has the time to sit around and listen to you talk. No one would get anything done.” Locus didn’t even look at him as he spoke.

“Someone’s touchy tonight. What’s wrong? Are you not getting the attention you want?” Felix allowed himself in, sitting on Locus’ bunk on the other side of the room. “I swear, half of the time, you sound like a pouting child.”

“I learned from the best. You can leave now. We’re done with our mission. Until Allien calls again at least.” Locus did his best not to sound bitter when he said it, but Felix caught on, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh really? What’s eating you then?” Felix asked, seemingly genuine in his questioning.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Why don’t you head back to Allen if you want to get some more money for sleeping with a target. Is that what you always do in your hour long briefings with him before you come back to the ship from the shuttle?” Locus surprised himself by even saying it and the look he caught on Felix’s face made it really hit home.

“Is that what this is about? You’re upset that I had sex with someone other than you? Oh my god, _newsflash_ : I have sex with people. So far, one of those people is you and you think you have some claim to me? Eggs and bacon, you're mistaken. So very wrong. I am in no way interested in being tied down by you even if you’re interested in being tied down by me. Sex does not equal a relationship.” Felix pushed himself off the bed at that point, pulling Locus to his feet and pushing him up against the wall to drive the point home. “I don’t want you to think that you have any kind of hold over me because you are sorely mistaken if you think I would be attached to just one person.”

“I don’t understand why you would want me to talk about it then if you’re only interested in shutting me down with it.” Locus pushed against Felix’s chest in an effort to get away. This conversation was pointless if this was all he wanted to say.

“Fine then, I don’t need you to talk,” Felix rasped out as he pushed Locus back against the wall. “Just listen to what I have to say.” Felix leaned forward and kissed him.

 


	10. Ammensalism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Locus tries to sort out how he feels about Felix. Explicit side story 'Pressure' accompanies this chapter but is not required to understand the chapter or overall fic.

Felix kissed him. Felix was still kissing him. Locus pulled back from his lips, his hand in the middle of Felix’s chest trying to get away from being confined like this. He didn’t need to be kissed. This wasn’t a relationship and no amount of kissing was going to convince him that it was. Felix caught Locus’ hand as he pushed him away, pinning his wrist to the wall and leaning in to kiss him again. Felix’s lips slid over his, pulling his lower lip between his teeth as he deepened the kiss and Locus froze for a second. He wasn’t entirely turned off to the idea, but he was still angry at Felix for things he had no right to be angry over. Yet the smell of his hair so close to him with the faint tinge of copper but he didn’t want to think about that. It didn’t help that he was pulling his lip in further with some light suction and his tongue was pushing into his mouth soon after and Felix’s tongue stud rubbed his tongue. Locus gave in to the kiss for a moment, sliding his tongue into Felix’s mouth as well until he realized what he was doing.

“No.” He shoved Felix away with his other hand, falling back against the wall when Felix pushed forward again and pinned him against the wall.

“Come on, Locus. We have chemistry. I know you like what I do to you. Let me make it up to you.” Felix’s hand trailed down, brushing over the front of his body suit and cupping his hardening shaft through it, making Locus swallow hard. He looked to the ceiling when Felix continued, breath hot on his neck from the lips that grazed his skin. “I know I can make it worth your while.”

“Not right now you can’t.” Locus pushed him away again this time, and Felix accepted it, dropping his hand from Locus’ wrist and pulling away from his cock.

“Is this about me fucking our client?” Felix took a step back, shifting his weight to watch Locus.

“Part of it. Doesn’t matter though. I’m not interested in this kind of _relationship_ or whatever you want to call it.” Locus figured if he denied it enough, it would go away. He didn’t need this getting in the way. He was still busy analyzing how much he cared about Felix.

“Suit yourself. By how quickly you got hard, I figured you would go for it.” Felix spun on his heel and left out the door without so much as a wave, leaving Locus alone, lips tingling and partly aroused. Did he care about Felix? Sure. Did he want a relationship with him? Absolutely not. Even more so considering he couldn’t guarantee that Felix would keep it to just the two of them. He wasn’t just going to do sex. They were partners. That was it.

\---

Dealing with Felix’s pouting for the next several days wasn’t on his list of plans, but Locus still dealt with it as best as he could. He thought about throwing the fact that he didn’t want Felix like that in his face by grabbing someone on the ship, but just the idea of throwing himself like that at someone else made him disgusted. He didn’t like it when Felix did it, so why would he want to for himself? It didn’t help that Felix was hitting on everyone that he saw, from crew to people they found at fueling stations, always looking back and smiling at him like ‘this could be yours too if you would just say you wanted me.’ The more he did it, the more Locus wanted to lash out at him in some way, violently or otherwise. He kept having the same conversation with himself. He didn’t feel the need to seek out sex. He didn’t dislike it. It just wasn’t something that was a priority for him. Keeping his equipment clean and working was important. Making sure they had food, fuel, and basic supplies was important. He didn’t prioritize the same way Felix did, nor did he want to form the same kind of attachments and really, it proved in frustrating them both instead of making things easier. He turned down offers to spar, rolling his eyes at the bared teeth and the quirked grin Felix gave him each time he asked.

With each poke, after every annoyance, Locus grew closer and closer to just throwing Felix out an airlock just to be done with it, but he knew that he still needed him. He felt so weak for coming back to the same argument every time too. _He needed him._ Locus didn’t just want Felix around. He needed him around to be able to handle the parts of his life that he couldn’t. It wasn’t that he didn’t like talking to Mr. Allen, but he didn’t want to because he didn’t interest him. He didn’t enjoy it. He didn’t feel comfortable sometimes with it either because of the lingering stares. So Felix took care of it. He needed him around as well for the sake of dealing with people who needed Felix’s smooth charm when they didn’t react well to his calm control. People would question him and Locus didn’t know how to handle it half of the time, freezing up. It had already happened twice and it would probably happen again before too long because of all the people out there that didn’t make him feel comfortable in his own created skin.

He didn’t just want Felix there, but he needed him because Felix understood him. He had been there when their squad was decimated. He had been there when he went out of his way to create this persona in order to protect himself and put up a wall for anyone who tried to tear him down. It had proved useful for the most part, and he only had Felix to thank for that. He owed him more than he could count up at this point and leaving him now would do nothing to help that. _Wait. Leave? When did that even come into play?_ He hated that these thoughts would hit him harder after Felix had done something to question their partnership, but he couldn’t help but think of what his life would be like without this particular asshole in it. It would probably be calmer. He would have less money. Truth be told, he would have likely died long ago stupidly following an order that he should have rejected. He didn’t know for sure if that was the case, but with Felix’s help, he was still alive to this point. He needed him there as well because he--- no they, needed to continue on. There was more out there and with Felix, he knew that there would be more to take out. First thing they would need to do was get out from under Allen’s thumb.

Locus snapped out of his thoughts when the mechanic snapped his fingers in front of his face. Locus didn’t remember making his way to the engine room, but there he was. Thankfully, the swelling in his shaft had gone away, making him far less embarrassed than he would have been if he had been discovered with an erection.

“What’s up boss?” The mechanic sat down next to him. “You seem to be out of sorts lately.” Locus didn’t speak to him, instead letting him continue on. “I’ve just noticed that Felix seems to hit on all of us more, when he thinks it will win you over into being interested in him. I don’t know why he does it but we notice. We also notice how you bristle about it every time he so much as touches anyone.” Locus bristled at the words, as if on cue and the mechanic laughed when he noticed. “Like that.”

“I do not,” Locus ground out, lacing the words with malice.

“You do too. Like I said, you’re doing it right now. You got it bad, whatever it is, even if you won’t admit it to yourself.” The mechanic didn’t laugh at that, instead letting his words sink in. “Felix though. Sex is a game to him. He doesn’t see it as any romantic thing. He just wants to feel wanted. Seems he’s picked you as his interest and whether you’ve given into him once or not doesn’t really seem to matter to him. I know you call him your partner, but it looks like he’s trying to seal that in every aspect. Just an observation.”

Locus sat there in silence with the mechanic for a minute before he got up and excused himself when an announcement came over the intercom that he was needed in the bridge for a moment. He was a game to Felix. Even if the mechanic spelled out that Felix did want to keep him around as partner, he was using him like a toy if he understood everything correctly. His mind swam in that knowledge, baffled that he hadn’t seen it before now. Locus still wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted in the entire scheme of things and this revelation was just confusing him further, making it harder to grasp on to something that made sense. He took a deep breath instead, steeling himself from the emotions and pushed them down. He would deal with them later.

\---

Locus blinked. Why was he watching this? Why was he still watching this? He tried to pull his eyes away, but he was fascinated. Felix lay prone on his bunk, and for some reason, he had left the door open enough that anyone who walked by could see in. He wanted to say he wasn’t surprised to see Felix doing this, honestly, he expected it, but Locus was still surprised. He was surprised by how normal it was. Felix’s hands moved slowly over himself, one hand pinching a nipple, while the other worked over his shaft. He should have suspected there was a piercing through his glans just by the way Felix felt when he was buried inside him from a few weeks ago, but the detail had slipped his mind until now. Now he could see Felix playing with it softly as his lips parted and a soft moan escaped them. Locus didn’t understand why he was so enthralled by the display, but he was. He couldn’t believe how delicate he was being about the whole thing as well. The soft moans that escaped his mouth fascinated him, but he didn’t find himself stirring anywhere at watching. He was just captivated by it. His hand moved in a more fluid motion than he expected Felix to use as he moved over his shaft, palming his cock. Thinking about it, Locus wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t this. It would never be this.

Locus licked his lips as he wondered what Felix was thinking. Did he know that the door was open? Did he realize that his moans could be heard several doors down? He could be drawing so much more attention than he was, yet, it didn’t seem to cross his mind at all. He continued to work himself over, moaning, starting to thrust up into his hand in a way that suggested that he wished there was someone with him. He wished he wasn’t so curious, that Felix wasn’t so interested in him, that he was something else. Locus didn’t know why he didn’t want Felix like this, but even after having sex, it didn’t change how he felt about it. He still reasoned it had been fun, but beyond that, nothing pulled him back. He hadn’t done more than masturbate a few times, pushing Felix from his mind each time he did and focusing on something else. Not someone though. Kept it neutral for the sake of satisfying the urge to pleasure himself even if there wasn’t an object to the attentions.

Locus was about to leave the doorway when he heard a name escape Felix’s lips, making him turn around in confusion.

“Luca.”

Locus was still surprised when Felix called him by his name. Locus hasn’t wanted to hear that name at all, and here it was, spilling from Felix’s lips like a prayer. The surprise on his face was clear as day and he went back to the door to listen, wondering just what exactly Felix was doing to the thought of him.

“Oh Luca.” Locus watched Felix stroke himself faster, eyes closed as he worked himself over, absolutely lost in his own fantasy. Locus was enraptured in what had Felix so dizzied up that he needed to masturbate to the thought of him. Minutes passed and he showed no signs of quitting. His hand just continued to work over his shaft, focusing on his glans from time to time and back to down his shaft. Not once did he open his eyes. He just kept licking his lips, gasping and moaning, leaving Locus to wonder what was going on in his head, aside from what he pieced together from his name spilling from his lips.

“Awwng, Luca, yes,” he gasped out, almost growling it out as Locus presumed he was approaching his orgasm. Locus swallowed as he watched, still able to see him work his shaft through his hand. Felix kept pausing from time to time to play with the piercing, drawing out a series of sharp hisses and bucked hips every time he did. Every time Locus had tightened up, Felix had hissed, even if he didn’t place it until now and that explained why. Felix’s hips started to lift and thrust into his hand as he got more into it, stroking himself faster the closer he got to completing himself.

Locus didn’t realize he was holding his breath even the slightest bit until he heard Felix cum. It was different than he when had cum inside him, more explosive and sensational, probably from whatever fantasy he was entertaining right now in his head. Felix aimed his shaft so he spilled over his stomach, relaxing onto the bunk in a heap when he finished spurting jets of cum all over himself. Locus swallowed again when he heard his name after Felix had finished followed by a wistful hum, like he was actually interested in him for more than just sex. Locus couldn’t take that chance though. He watched Felix clean himself up and squeeze out the last droplets of semen from his shaft, bringing them to his lips and humming in appreciation at the taste. Locus didn’t expect that one for sure and he briefly wondered how it tasted. Felix looked up and saw him in the door once he sat up, Locus still spellbound by what he had just witnessed. He could swear he saw him blush for just a moment before he shot him a sultry look.

“There’s more if you want it, Luca.”

\---

 _Deep breath in. Deep breath out._ Locus was still trying to piece together exactly what had just happened or if it was a fever dream. He needed to talk to someone and so far, everyone on the ship either knew of the feelings that Felix harbored for him or were afraid of them or both. Thankfully, they happened on a refueling station and Locus pushed himself off the ship once they docked, needing to clear his head of all of the information that was being dumped on him. Felix liked him enough to fantasize about him, just like he had done with Felix twice now. He couldn’t afford to have Felix find that out now that he knew he had been watching, but no one else knew of those lust filled times.

Locus headed to one of the restrooms, thankful it was empty. He splashed water on his face after pulling off his helmet, finding himself calmer once he was far enough away from the ship. One of the newer crew members came into the bathroom around that time, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Needed to get off the ship too huh?” she asked, eyeing him, noting that he looked a little ashy. She was one of the newer crew members, aware of Felix’s interest in Locus, but not enough to worry about being caught alone in a bathroom with him. “Makes sense with the orange one so interested in you. He’s intense. You both are, even if you’re more attractive.” She winked at him, going back to the sink to finish looking over her face thanks to the lack of mirrors on the ship.

“Kiss me.”

“What?” she asked, baffled that what she considered her boss would ask her to kiss him.

“You heard me, kiss me. Or let me kiss you. How does this work?” Locus sputtered for a moment, trying to explain it better. The woman, Clara he would later find out, leaned over and kissed him. Her lips were soft, and he leaned into it, pulling her closer by the waist and back into one of the stalls at the back of the bathroom. He turned her around and pushed her against the door to the stall, thankful she wasn’t wearing power armor when he kissed down her neck. She gasped softly at the touches. So far, the only thing that was different was the hair in his face when he felt nothing from it. He broke the kiss soon after leaving her to gasp slightly when he did.

“What was that for?” Clara asked, running her hands over his shoulders and leaning to kiss his neck. He didn’t wave her away but he continued to feel nothing for it.

“No reason. I just wanted to see if Felix was a one-time thing or if everyone was like that.” Locus swallowed when she stopped kissing at his neck, staring at him in annoyance.

“So you mean you used me.” Her indignant tone didn’t sit right with him either and he contemplated killing her just to avoid any weird conversations later about it with Felix or anyone else for the matter.

“I did. I wanted to know something about myself. You just happened to be here to help.” Locus reasoned that it was just Felix. He was drawn to him sure, but the familiar stirrings that others felt just didn’t happen for him. He cared yes, but it was different. Confusing. Part of him wished he could just forget it even happened. Leave. He wished he could feel something beyond the need for companionship, but overall, finding this out just made him feel broken. He felt disgusted with himself for even testing his theory, especially after proving it right. He hoped he just wasn’t attracted to Felix, he had hoped that he could have progressed with the woman who was continuing to whine about being used. He had wished for a lot of things. Some things were just hard wired.

“Why do you think using people is okay? Do you not care how I feel in this?” Clara was starting to wear thin and Locus pondered telling Felix exactly what happened.

“You didn’t seem to mind. Besides, would you want word to get out that you were kissing the guy that Felix wants? I wouldn’t. Not if I was in your position. He likes me. Can’t say he would think twice about killing you for so much as looking at me.” Locus secured his threat when he heard someone come in. He backed up in the stall so the two of them could get out, staring Felix in the face.


	11. Coming Undone

“You’ve been acting weird lately.” Locus tried to say that as calmly as he could. Felix’s gloved fingers were gripping the steering wheel so tight, Locus was sure that he would leave indentations or take the whole thing off when he got out of the shuttle.

“It’s nothing.” Felix didn’t punctuate those two words with a witty quip or anecdote. It didn’t help that they hadn’t spent any time training in the last few weeks. It didn’t help that Mr. Allen was wanting to meet with Felix about upcoming missions. The man had gotten himself into some hot water with some of his rivals, treading on toes and generally making things difficult for himself. However, he expected his two faithful mercs to go clean up his mess and get him out of it by taking out the people who were causing him so much trouble thanks to his own carelessness. Locus was hating the man more and more each day, yet he didn’t see the point of breaking free of him when he still had a paycheck coming from him.

 _This is exactly why you talk to Allen and not me._ Locus shook his head.

“What was that?” Felix asked, eyes still right ahead. Locus jumped, not realizing he had spoken and turned to Felix.

“Huh? N-nothing. Just something about Allen.” Locus looked out the window as nonchalantly as he could to throw Felix off, not needed this kind of questioning before they went in to take care of targets. Not now. Not this. Locus checked the magazine on his rifle, looking for the spare before the two of them headed out. He brought it with him out of habit at this point, even if he wouldn’t even need it on this mission. Felix was in charge, leaving him to be back up.

To say Felix was quiet was an understatement. Once they landed, he was off, heading to the waypoint. Locus set a second waypoint to meet up in case things got too heated, staying further behind but close enough that he could help his partner out if needed. He didn’t want to worry about Felix, but everything about this was off. Why would Allen send them in like this? Why would Allen separate them like this as well? It was normal for Felix to head in for a target with Locus close behind or at least watching him, but this left the both of them exposed. It was too easy for them to be separated from the other if push came to shove and a rock settled in the pit of Locus’ stomach the further Felix got from him. He didn’t want to think of what would happen if Felix got hurt. At least if he was there, he could do something about it.

“Locus I need you.” Felix voice staticked over the helmet’s headset, and Locus paused. “I need you quiet though. There are twice as many men as we initially thought and I can’t take them all on my own. I need you, too. I need you to help me take them.” Locus practically broke into a run, figuring Felix wouldn’t call for help like this unless he really needed it.

As he got closer to the point on the map that Felix had marked for him, he noticed the height that Felix had scouted out. It wouldn’t be hard for him to pick off several of them before anyone was able to tell he had been there, but the two of them still had to draw people away enough to be able to get in and take them out.

“Did Allen not say how many would be there? He’s not usually sloppy about this kind of thing so I wouldn’t figure he would be like this.” Locus continued on quietly as he turned to Felix. He sat in silence for a few minutes.

“He just said we were taking these people out and another group. Something about both of them owing him money or costing him money. Whatever. What matters is he’s paying us double our rate to take each of them out so if there are more guys for us to take on, I guess it’s worth it. We just need to make sure we kill every last one of them, take out their boss and report back. We’ll head to the other headquarters on the way back since this one was further out. Got that?” Felix looked over, taking out his knife for when he planned to go in closer. Locus figured he would once enough of them had been drawn out. Problem was how to get himself to that spot in the first place.

“Felix, wait!” Locus didn’t figure he had been there next to Felix for more than a few minutes before he took off. Thankfully, this was a mission that didn’t require plain clothes, keeping the both of them guarded from the onslaught that would likely befall them otherwise. Locus growled into his helmet, watching over Felix’s back for a moment. He was going to be more use closer up, especially since sniper fire would alert the men that the two of them had arrived. He grunted and picked up his rifle, drawing his pistol and headed out after Felix. He couldn’t let anything happen to him, not now, not ever. They were partners, regardless of all the confusing feelings that had cropped up.

As Locus approached the building, he found a trail of bodies littered before him. He knew he heard an explosion before he ran up, yet here Felix was, gutting one man by splitting him open from stem to stern and laughing when his guts fell out of him. Countless limbs were strewn about the ground, dismembered pieces littering the floor. From the looks of the floor and what appeared to be a blast pattern, Locus gathered that Felix had thrown in one, two, three, no four grenades on his way in to take care of most of them. He had obliterated a compound of upwards of thirty men in less than five minutes. Locus stood in awe as Felix continued, slitting another man’s throat before pulling out his pistol and burying a slug in the skull of the man they had been sent to kill. Locus shifted his weight back as Felix took a step towards him after he bent down and grabbed a blue pocket square from their main target, wiping the blood from his knife and tossing the cloth to the floor.

“We’re done here.”

\---

“What was that back there?” Locus was still in shock that Felix had gone in and lain waste to everyone back at that compound, killing indiscriminately. Granted, that’s what they had been sent to do in the first place, but it still baffled him that Felix would rush in like that. The posture that Felix had stood with after shooting the rival boss in the head was one Locus wouldn't forget and he hoped he would never see it again. He looked untamed, entirely wild. “It was like you came completely undone. We don’t get that way in the field. We don’t lose ourselves in the fight. We don’t go out and murder people just because. What happened?”

Locus sat there in silence as he waited for Felix’s answer, seeing his hands flex on the ship controls as they used the shuttle to head to their next navigation point. Locus sat there in awkward silence for a few moments before he pressed again.

“Are you going to tell me what happened? What got into you? You don’t kill like that.” Locus tried to prod for the answer, waiting for Felix to open up to him and spill just what had set him off. He grumbled a little when Felix’s fingers continued to flex on the ship controls, pointedly ignoring each and every one of Locus’ questions as they continued through space. “I just want to know so that if it’s an issue, it can be taken care of properly. I can take care of it for you. It’s what partners do.”

“We are not partners. We work together. We are coworkers at most. You keep using the word partners like you know the connotation behind the word yet, we are _not_ partners. Not in my mind.” Felix ground out the words, almost spitting them as he kept his eyes focused forwards and continued his path to the next destination. Locus sat there, befuddled. What.

“What do you mean ‘we’re not partners.’ We work together. We are with each other at any given time. You sleep in my bed because you get lonely.” Locus listed off the reasons why he thought they were partners, listening to the low rumble in Felix’s throat. “What.”

“Partners, in my world, are lovers. You are not quite there yet considering how much you like to deny that we are anything other than people who work together. We are not partners if you are kissing one of the mercenaries we hired. We are not partners if you keep going around acting like nothing has happened between us because you don’t know how to come to terms with your own sense of identity because you would rather push everything down than deal with the stuff that matters. So if we’re partners, then you need to tell me what the hell is going on with you.” Felix was almost panting by the end of it, clearly worked up from letting out all the repressed anger at seeing Locus with someone else.

“That’s why you don’t want to call me your partner? Because you define it differently? Because you would rather sleep with our boss for extra pay? Or does that not count in you scheme of what a partner is? If you’re going to get so pissed off about me trying to figure out if I’m even attracted to you by kissing someone else while you’re egh--- I don’t even want to say it-- _with_ that grease trap of a man for money, then I think I should just reclassify you as a coworker instead.” Locus wished the shuttle was bigger. He wished he could get up and walk away from this. He wished he could take back half of what he said because he regretted it already. He was lashing out from Felix’s words and the look of hurt on his face was evidence of that.

“So this is what happens when we don’t talk at all about anything and rely on the other to assume what we mean. Great. Fan. Fucking. Tastic. Next you’re going to tell me that you aren’t attracted to me at all just to further punch me in the ego. Go ahead Locus. Wound me. Tell me that you’ve just been using me this whole time and you would rather leave me at the next shuttle port because I dare to fuck our boss for money.” The steady raising of Felix’s voice as he spoke just made Locus shrink a little, pissed at himself for even allowing it to be brought up.

“I don’t know what it is that I want. I don’t know if it’s you. I don’t know who I am, much less what I want from you, sexually or not. Am I mad about you and Allen? No. Do I understand it? No. Why? I have no clue. I don’t even know why I let you touch me, but I do because most of the time it feels good. I touch myself a lot of the time just for the relief to the ache, but not because I have this overwhelming need to sleep with someone. I haven’t slept with anyone in years before you because I just don’t care to. So don’t even try to pin this on me for trying to figure something out. I don’t know what I want and I’m trying to figure it out.” Locus huffed as his voice cracked, trying to calm himself now that he had allowed himself to be worked up. “I’m not saying I will or won’t in the future but Allen is just this waste of slimy flesh in my opinion. I don’t think less of you for it. I just don’t get why you would. I’m talking myself in circles now. I need to stop. I need to get a grip.” He flexed his fingers against the padding of the seat.

“You seriously don’t have any inclination to sleep with me.” Felix’s tone softened as he asked, almost curious in a way to understand Locus.

“Not especially.” Locus shrugged, finding Felix’s tone more pleasing, calming.

“Seriously?” Felix almost sounded dumbfounded at the prospect.

“Seriously.”

“Not even with how pretty I am?”

“Ehhhh. You’re okay.” Locus see-sawed his hand slightly back and forth before patting his hand against Felix’s leg from across the cockpit. It wasn’t like he was telling this to hurt Felix’s feelings, but when they were yelling about sex of all things, it made sense to clarify.

“Wait, so you don’t want to have sex at all?” Felix still wasn’t getting it, cocking his head as the flight went on, trying to focus on both things. “Is the sky green for you or something?”

“I don’t desire to at all. Sometimes there are… stirrings? For lack of a better words, but to say that I want to sleep with people? No. I don’t always turn it down as you have found out on more than one occasion.” Locus couldn’t stop shrugging at this point, feeling less like the weapon in a suit of armor and more like the scared teenager after his first time.

“I just.. okay. I suppose I can get that. I don’t agree with it for me because I find people very much fuckable and usually that ends in me sticking my dick in them, but okay, yeah, if you don’t want to, then say so. Give me a signal. Something.” Felix took his turn to shrug now, staring off into space, literally, and just lost. “Wait, so either time we have, did you not want to?”

“I won’t say it was the first thing on my mind, but I would have said no if I didn’t like it. I’m just sort of neutral on the entire thing.”

“Well. That’s different.” Felix sat there for a second. “So you’re saying you don’t wanna fuck when we get back?”

Locus rolled his eyes. _“Felix.”_

\---

To say the rest of the day passed quickly was a joke. Locus was more on edge than he should have been, afraid still that he had offended Felix in some way. He hadn’t said that he would refuse sex all the time, but it still didn’t sit right with telling Felix why. He kept thinking about the conversation, trying to figure out how he could have worded it better. On the rest of the flight to the second compound, Locus continued to analyze the conversation, trying to find that better way and coming up empty.

This time when they got to the facility, it was a combined effort to take the men out, Felix looking over to him from time to time, presumably to check on him when he hesitated. He hated the feeling, like he needed to be watched, especially when it was all he was trying to accomplish the entire time.

After they finished decimating the second compound, Felix was friendlier, almost personable. Well, for him. He wound his arm around Locus’ shoulders, pulling him close and knocking their helmets together lightly.

“Come on. Let’s go back home and unwind. I know for a fact that I need to unwind and you could probably use the training room to work off some stress. You know?” Felix pulled him towards where they had landed the shuttle, kicking aside pieces of people and guns they weren’t keeping.

“Does Allen want anything retrieved from here?” Locus looked back over at the compound, figuring they were missing a key component to the second mission, but without knowing the intel that Felix did, he had no way of knowing if there was anything left for them to get.

“Don’t worry about him. He wants us to pick up something that helps him, but for the last time, I will make him forget about it, transfer a little extra into my account and share it with you. Then after that, he can go fuck himself if it makes you that unsettled.” Felix cocked his helmet, waiting for Locus to approve.

“You’re not doing this for me, are you?” Locus tried not to sound hopeful, almost a little annoyed at the change in disposition.

“A little of it is you. Honestly, you’re more fun to sleep with when it happens. However, I’ve been looking for a reason to tell him no. I figure if I can drain his account at some point, it isn’t going to matter how much he pays me. We have to run like hell when that happens though.”

Locus snorted. “Right.”

\---

After arriving back at the frigate, Clara was nowhere in sight and that was probably for the best. Locus set sights on heading to the training room once he stripped down and showered, putting on a fresh set of fatigues.

Feeling more human, and about an hour after they got back, Locus didn’t think twice about inviting Felix along to come train with him, set on finding ways to include him in some way to better cement that he thought of him as more than a coworker. However, Felix’s plans were a little more pronounced as he watched from the door, pants around his ankles. Locus left as soon as he heard his name spill out of Felix’s lips, giving him the privacy he needed this time. He still left the door open though because he wasn’t going to deny anyone else on the ship the show, he thought with a smirk. His attention was elsewhere and the two of them needed to work off the stress from the shuttle ride.

Locus took off his shoes once he was inside the training room, wrapping his hands and heading to the punching bag. He felt a little more calm than he did after the admission, each of the blows against the punching bag letting out a little more of the stress that had a tight hold on his emotions, his thoughts, his mind. He needed to let it go because it would let him be that better soldier. This was how he needed to focus. This was what he needed to do. He had Felix. Last time they check their bank accounts after grabbing the documents that secured them even more than Allen promised for all of their jobs combined, they looked at what to do with it. A new ship was on the list of options, but that would only put a small dent in what they had accrued. Forty seven, forty eight, forty nine, fifty. Locus let out a deep breath, the thoughts of organizing and finances calming him even more than Felix’s idea of relaxation or punching a bag ever could.

Locus laid on the ground, squaring off his shoulders and pointing his toes. The punches had helped him melt some of it off, but the push ups helped him focus. Felix hadn’t punched him. He didn’t accuse him of leading him on. He was back in his own room, jacking off to the thought of him right now and Locus smirked. He wondered what would happen if he headed back without his shirt on and asked Felix if he wanted to join him, but even with a recent orgasm, he didn’t figure Felix would let that stop him from putting his mouth on him at very least. The thought wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but he still wasn’t interested at the moment, focusing on pushing against gravity. Twenty, twenty one, twenty two, twenty three. The steady motion helped him calm down a lot easier than most things and he looked up at the door when it slid open, Felix stepping inside with his greaves still on his legs and his body suit peeled down off his chest. The myriad of tattoos on his body were glistening with sweat.

“So. Do you need a shower? Because I do and I wanted to know if you wanted to join me.” Felix shifted a little from foot to foot as Locus laid himself on the floor after his twenty fifth push up.

“I guess.” He shrugged, hiding the smirk as he pulled himself to his feet. “I guess everyone needs to be clean after a thorough work out.”


	12. Roulette Wheel

Locus stared in suspicion when Felix rolled over in bed a few days later. Since their talk, well, they had really yelled more, Felix had returned to sleeping next to Locus, more out of comfort than anything. "Locus hadn't noticed how much he had missed it until Felix came back, resting more soundly with the warm body next to him. He would often wake up to a hand being thrusted between his legs as Felix slept, not realizing he was rutting against him while he dreamed. In all actuality, it was helping the days pass quicker, each of them looking for excuses to find a reason to sleep next to the other. Most of them were stupid reasons ranging from ‘in case of attack’, to ‘if they come looking for one of us, they’ll get both’. Same reason why Felix kept his knife under his pillow and Locus kept a shotgun by the bed. Safer. Easier.

Locus didn’t want to admit that even with Felix sleeping around, he had missed him coming in and visiting each night. He had missed him. _So much for not caring about him._ Locus’ confusion rose when Felix read the message that came over the comm for him, for them, early that morning.

“Allen wants to meet with the both of us.” Felix rolled over on the bed, leaving the comm on the table to the side of the bunk, facing Locus.

“Why? He never wants to talk to me. He just likes talking to you. Among other things.” Locus didn’t even try to hide his disdain in the last few words, rolling his eyes at Felix and checking the time over his shoulder, groaning. “Does he really need to talk to us _now_? He knows we just got in five hours ago from the last mission he sent us on. Couple that with getting armor off, calming down, eating, he knows we’ve only been asl--” Locus hushed when Felix held a finger to his lips.

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?” Felix grinned at him, leaning closer to absorb the warmth he was still radiating.

“That’s rich coming from you,” Locus said, snorting softly and pulling Felix closer with an arm around his shoulders. “Anyways, what does he want? Is there another ‘rival’ of his that he wants taken out because he’s just so important?”

“According to the message, he just wants to speak with us both in about three hours. I imagine details will come after that.” Felix’s eyes had closed already, enveloping himself against Locus’ chest to sleep.

“Fine. You talk though.”

“I always do.”

\---

“So I’ve called you two here because I need you to do some work for me. You have been excellent so far with every other mission you’ve carried out and I expect the same level of excellence and professionalism with this job as well. I expect the two of you can handle it though.” Allen had outdone himself this time, actually standing before the two of them, pacing along the large window that he had behind his desk instead of seating himself like some caricature of a villain, save for the lack of white, long-haired cat to pet. The balding man still disgusted Locus and the sooner they finished the meeting, the better it would be for Locus’ mental standing. It didn’t sit well with him to think this much about the different ways to kill just one person. Locus would have been lying if he hadn’t considered killing Allen himself, but the lack of paycheck concerned him, even with the savings the two of them had accrued at this point. Locus snapped out of his murder filled reverie when Allen snapped his fingers to get their attention. “I’m not paying the two of you to stand around and look pretty. Well, not both of you anyway. Regardless, this is the last rival I want taken out. They have been a thorn in my side for far too long and the sooner they are gone, the better. I need them taken out completely. Acquire anything else you want for yourself. My only requirement is their head on a platter, which shouldn’t be an issue based on the presents Felix has brought back for me from your other jobs. Go.” Locus turned heel and left first, waiting until they were almost to their shuttle before opening his mouth.

“I rather loathe that man. Talking about you like you are meat. Regarding the both of us as nothing more than dogs to carry out his dirty work.” He would have spat if he wasn’t wearing his helmet, but Felix cocked his head at him.

“You’re the one obsessed with being a soldier, a weapon, a tool. Here I would think you would like it that he regarded you as such.” Felix shrugged as they rode the elevator down to the shuttle bay, soon strapping themselves in to head back to the frigate.

“Yeah, but I don’t want it from him.” Locus looked away from Felix, silencing himself when he heard just how pathetic he sounded.

“Are you pouting?” Felix almost sounded amused, turning to look at him as they took position at the exit, flying out of the pod bay doors.

“ _I am not._ ” Locus folded his arms in front of his chest, still refusing to look at Felix.

“You totally are!” Felix laughed for a moment, and Locus was hit with a moment of calm. This was just another thing he had missed in the weeks where he had inadvertently pushed Felix away while he was attempting to figure himself out. After a few moments, Locus calmed down, taking a few deep breaths.

“Did he give you a nav point as to where we should go to take this guy out?” Locus asked, trying to focus on the mission as opposed to the gentle jabs that Felix would insert every few moments in any attempt to get him to react.

“As far as I know, it’s out this way.” Felix pointed on the map to a spot out past one of the outer planets, finding it was at least a few days travel from where they were already. “I know that if we want to get there in any reasonable amount of time, we’re going to need to use the co-pilot that usually sits on their ass and doesn’t do anything to help even if it’s a bad idea because taking the reins away from Cal is a bad idea.”

“Cal will need to learn how to deal. She’s going to exhaust herself if she flies us non-stop to this spot. Have you upped her pay since she pulled that maneuver that kept up from being a smear on that asteroid?” Locus couldn’t help but be in awe of how skilled their pilot seemed to be even under the worst conditions. “If I remember correctly, she slept for close to three days straight after that mission because she went nonstop the entire time.”

“Doubled her pay and did a few other comfort related things in her bunk that you probably don’t care to know about.” Felix cocked his head to the side and Locus could only assume he was winking.

“I don’t care to know at all.” Locus turned his attention to the black expanse of space as the two of them pulled into the shuttle bay of their frigate.

“It was a vibrator,” Felix supplied without prompt.

“What did I just say?” Locus let out an annoyed breath

“It’s pink,” Felix continued, his voice jubilant.

_“Felix.”_

“Do you want one too?”

\---

Locus found himself of the pilot’s seat of the shuttle this time. It felt odd to take the reins, considering Felix usually held onto this aspect of control, but he handled it with ease. Well, after the shaky takeoff. Felix just rolled his eyes at Locus, thumbing through his bag of supplies.

“I want you to get the hang of taking care of flights in case we need to take a quick drop in and drop out. That way, I can run in there, do my shit and we can bust it on out of there.” Felix mimed the motions he was intending they carried out, hunched over in his seat, complete with sound effects. “That way, you and I can be back to the frigate before Cal gets pissed about us holding up her dinner again.”

“Do… you ever stop to listen to yourself talk?” Locus’ shoulders slumped, shaking his head and hitting the accelerator in order to get them closer to the destination. Concentrating on where they were going was a welcome distraction from Felix sitting next to him, pulling out his knife to either sharpen, polish or play with every few minutes. Had Locus not told him to be quiet several hours before, Locus figured he would still be playing some inane game about spying objects. “Go over what Allen wants us to do again.”

“Okay, for the third time,” Felix sighed out as he reclined back in his chair and did his best not to be pissed at Locus for being ‘overly prepared’, “we are going to head in there. According to Allen, this guy usually only keeps a small handful of guards on his ship because for the most part he thinks that he’s untouchable. I personally see it as a challenge to carve him into pieces, but we’ll see how much time we have to play with everything he wants us to do. Supposedly this guy has some information that Allen wants on set of planets out on the outskirts of space. Farthest of the UNSC planets. Like we care what happens to them right? Anyway, he wants us to get the information, or get the shit that leads to it. He wasn’t too clear on that.”

“He never is,” Locus interjected, eyes still straight ahead.

“Will you let me finish? Anyway, we’re supposed to get the information first, then kill the guy because he wants the guy to know that it was his men that came and stole his shit and took him down, blah blah blah macho bullshit muscle flexing. Do I have to explain it again or were you able to record it this time in that machine you call a brain?” Felix flippantly waved his hand from his position where he was lying.

The rest of the ride took little time once they crossed the asteroid field that made the guy feel seemingly untouchable. After activating the cloaking device, the pair were able to slip easily into his defenses. The both of them activated their own personal cloaking units on their armor, ensuring that no one would see them as they broke into the ship and stole the information needed before taking out the boss of the operation.

Locus went for the data first, downloading it to a memory chip. He silently indicated to Felix that he had finished the transfer and was heading to his direction to meet up with him so they could take out Reynolds, just like Allen had told them to do.

Once Locus reached the spot where Felix was standing, they were faced with Reynolds. The man certainly looked like he belonged at the top of the food chain with his hair slicked back and his suit neatly pressed.

“Good evening gentlemen. Have a seat.” Reynolds motioned to the two chairs in front of him. Neither Felix nor Locus made a move to sit and Reynolds kept himself standing as well when they refused to sit. “I am aware that Allen sent you. I am also aware that the two of you are being paid millions of credits to do his dirty work. Meaningless dirty work that wastes your talents as killers.” Locus froze for a second, but continued to listen. Felix didn’t flinch. He just kept his gaze fixed forward from what Locus could tell out of the corner of his eye.

“Now, Jin Woon.” Felix froze at Reynolds’ words, hands twitching over his knife. “Well, Felix as you seem to call yourself now. I’ve known of your skill for years despite your age. I know you want to kill me to collect your reward, and your prodigy here won’t do anything to stop my guards if you attack first, so let me make a deal. Unless you want Luca dead before he hits the floor because you were too hasty to listen, I suggest you take your hands off the throwing knife you keep stashed under your gauntlets. The two of you are known. Well known. Mention of you makes people shiver because it’s like talking about a ghost. Now. I want that. Allen pays you shit. I want to double it.” Reynolds relaxed around the two of them as two of his guards appeared in the shadows, both of their laser sights aimed at Locus’ head. “Now where were we? Ah yes. My offer.”

“We don’t want your fucking offer. How do we know that you’re not going to kill us regardless of if we take it or not?” Felix would have spit if he wasn’t wearing his helmet.

“Well clearly this isn’t going anywhere.” Reynolds nodded at one of the soldiers in the shadows and they focused their aim on Locus, flicking their safety off. Locus breathed deep, ready to jump. Felix threw up his arms.

“Okay okay okay. Don’t fucking shoot him or me or yourself or the fucker in the corner. What the fuck do you want to offer us that is so important to convince me of that you would kill my partner to do it?” Felix heaved out a sigh as he put his hands on the desk, assuring that he wasn’t ready throw anything.

“Like I said, _Felix_ , since you prefer to go by that name, I want to offer you a job. Depending on how close you really are with your boss, it could be an easy no, but I’m willing to double your pay, give you a kill bonus, both of you, for completing it and upgrade the ship you two cruise around on. A sign on bonus if you will.” Reynolds tented his fingers on his desk and looked right at Felix’s visor as he nodded at his soldiers to stand down. “I want you to kill your boss by any means necessary. I don’t care if you slit his throat or just shoot him when you get back. He’s been a bane to my existence for years and I want that stain that should have been swallowed the night his mother conceived him gone. Finished. Dead. Will you do that for me?”

“How much is the kill bonus?” Felix took his hands off the desk and looked right at Locus, astounded and a little impressed that he would jump on the offer over the prospect of money. For Locus, it wasn’t about money though. Reynolds wrote a number down on a piece of paper, sliding it across the desk. Felix nodded, first to Locus, then to Reynolds.

“We’ll do it,” Locus growled out.

\---

Locus kept the information on Reynolds in his tactical pack on their journey back to Allen’s frigate. After taking the shuttle back to their own ship, Locus retired to his room, though he wasn’t alone for long. As he pulled off his armor, discarding it in the crates next to his bunk, Felix slipped inside.

“Cal has us enroute to Allen’s ship. Should arrive before too much longer.” Felix ventured over to help, pulling Locus’ helmet down and kissing the broad, opaque visor. “I didn’t want him to shoot you.”

Locus blinked, but let the sentiment go. He squeezed Felix’s shoulder.

“Yes, but he didn’t. It also teaches us to not turn our backs on him. He’s dangerous.” Locus released the clasps on his helmet and discarded it into the crate, pulling Felix over and wrapping his arm around his shoulders. Locus’ lips lazily kissed Felix’s temple. He sighed inwardly when Felix didn’t recoil, relaxing.

“Still didn’t want him to shoot you though. We work well together, and really, I don’t want to have to learn how to get along with a whole new person, ya know?” Felix pulled away from being so close to Locus, then kneeled in front of him to help unclasp the armored greaves. Felix helped toss them into the crates where he spied the rest of the armor, Locus still just resting his hand on Felix’s shoulder as he was tended to. Locus needed less help once the boots were off, hissing at the cold air that kissed at his skin when Felix reached back to unzip the bodysuit. He leaned forward to kiss between Locus’ shoulders. Locus wasn’t sure what to make of the tenderness, but he didn’t dare say anything about it out of fear that it would stop entirely.

Felix eventually pulled away to grab casual clothes for Locus, disappearing out of Locus’ room quickly. Locus’ brow furrowed in confusion for a moment but when Felix returned a few minutes later with food, not rations but actual food, his face softened and he sat up on his bed, patting the spot next to him for Felix to join him.

Words were few as they ate. Felix leaned his head against Locus’ arm after he finished, setting his plate on the floor for later. They sat in silence for a few minutes, the steady breathing the only thing echoing in the room. Soon, Locus broke the silence first.

“What’s your plan for taking care of Allen?”

“I have one and you won’t like it. Just trust me though, it’ll be the last time and Reynolds won’t need to know about my other plan.” Felix poked his finger against Locus’ nose. “Just give me an hour once we get back to Allen’s ship and I’ll have him taken care of.”

\---

Locus was still uneasy at the idea of taking out Allen. Reynolds scared him in a way that he couldn’t pinpoint beyond the fact that he had tried to kill him, but there was something even before laser sights were leveled on him that he couldn’t read. Part of him wanted Felix to back out of the deal, to do whatever he was going to do with Allen to get rid of him and leave Reynolds as well, but since Reynolds knew who they were, it would be harder for them to do anything short of disappearing. After docking with Allen’s ship, Locus gave Felix the necessary time to be able to prepare his plan. He was anxious at the thought of whatever Felix prepared to do as well. He didn’t regard Felix as being his, but he couldn’t get the idea of Allen out of his head knowing that he had touched him before, even if this one would be the last time.

Felix had made a convincing argument. Well, more Reynolds had. Their options were to go with him or die essentially. However, if someone else came along, they had to form an escape route just in case. Locus busied himself with the task, though he didn’t trust any one of their hired mercenaries that they had started to acquire with the information. Cal was the only one he would trust with such a thing and she was their pilot. She didn’t fight. Locus heaved in a sigh. He needed grenades, weapons, a bomb and Felix. There was no sense in setting up the trap now. He would just prepare something in case he needed to. He also needed Felix in this. He considered asking him to seduce Reynolds at some point but immediately after thinking it stuck his tongue out in disgust at the idea.

Locus’ armored boots clicked on the steel floor, retreating to the comfort of being encased in it without Felix there. The rest of the travel had taken a few days, and Felix disappeared as soon as he could. Locus was a little comforted to know he was in armor, though that didn’t mean a whole lot if he was overwhelmed. Locus headed over to the pod bay, waving off the pirates that wanted to follow him. He gave them orders to grab supplies and stay on the ship until he and Felix returned, receiving a nod in return. Locus headed towards Allen’s office, each step he took filling him with dread that Felix had failed in some way, though he wasn’t exactly thrilled about the plan either if he had succeeded.

Locus opened the door to blood splattered on the floor, the chair, on Felix. He had seemingly finished whatever his plan was and Allen’s state of undress was unsettling considering the rest of the scene. He would have to ask Felix details of what happened, or not since closer inspection showed Allen’s throat slit as Felix put away the blade. Felix walked toward him, hips swaying in a saunter, extra distracting considering Felix hadn’t put his pants back on, and ran his finger under the chin of Locus’ helmet, guiding him away from the room. “Come on. I got the money, and he’s dead. Let’s go see what the new boss has for us.”

Locus obeyed.

 


	13. Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why did Felix do that? Why did he nearly break at the idea of Reynolds killing him? Reynolds knew that Felix wouldn’t work without him yet the scare tactic worked. Locus didn’t get it, but he still wondered why Felix allowed himself to be exposed like that to a man they just met. It didn’t make any sense. None of it. Felix barely showed any kind of emotion to warrant the desperation that clung to his voice as he asked, no, downright begged Reynolds not to have him killed… Locus shook his head. No. That had never even come up, not with other people, so why would it enter into play now? The two of them worked together. They were partners. Some level of affection was expected, but it wasn’t like he sent him messages over their HUD communicator that said “Babe, where are you?” That just seemed ridiculous.

Why did Felix do that? Why did he nearly break at the idea of Reynolds killing him? Reynolds knew that Felix wouldn’t work without him yet the scare tactic worked. Locus didn’t get it, but he still wondered why Felix allowed himself to be exposed like that to a man they just met. It didn’t make any sense. None of it. Felix barely showed any kind of emotion to warrant the desperation that clung to his voice as he asked, no, downright begged Reynolds not to have him killed… Locus shook his head. No. That had never even come up, not with other people, so why would it enter into play now? The two of them worked together. They were partners. Some level of affection was expected, but it wasn’t like he sent him messages over their HUD communicator that said “Babe, where are you?” That just seemed ridiculous.

In the cold of his room, Locus laid awake staring at the ceiling. What was the point of this kind of behavior? The only thing Felix had to gain from it was keeping him alive and up until… they had sex, there had been a layer of disdain that had cropped up between the two of them. After losing their squad, Felix had been affectionate. Then he wandered away again. After they were intimate (if sweaty sex pushed up against a wall was intimate) Felix was affectionate for a shorter time, then just wandered away again. Judging by the way Felix’s voice started to crack when he was pleading with Reynolds to keep Locus alive, saying that they could go along with his deal, that this was much less a partnership and more a command structure, Locus guessed that Felix would be back in his room that night.

Locus shook his head, baffled that the two of them had allowed themselves to fall into this kind of trap. Locus’ door slowly slid open, later than he figured it would. Felix slipped in silently, wrapped up in a hoodie and sweats. Locus didn’t pay any attention to why he was lingering before climbing into bed with him, Felix’s arms wrapping around his waist and hands digging slightly into his skin. They laid like that for several minutes, quiet breathing the only thing breaking the silence in the room.

“I did it to ensure you were safe.” Locus barely heard the words as they were whispered so quietly. He didn’t question it, bringing his hand up to pet the back of Felix’s head. “I didn’t know Reynolds was this ruthless.”

“Yeah, and Allen was ruthless too, just in a different way. Reynolds is still going to pay us. He just wants to keep us in line on top of it. He probably figured you were more likely to rebel against his line of authority considering how free you were with information about you seducing Allen for the sake of a bigger bonus and wanted to ensure loyalty.” Locus paused for a moment, breathing deep and rubbing his hands against Felix’s back. This was to help Felix more than anything. He needed the comfort right now. “He’s asserting himself, however aggressively, because we have a reputation of doing things our own way to achieve the same results. He wants to know that we’re going to do things his way. That’s why he would threaten us as a means of making us take the job in a sense. Our other option is death in that case. We could have called his bluff because we knew he wanted us on his team, but… but there was still a risk I am happy you didn’t take. For my own sake.”

Felix nodded against Locus’ chest, showing pang of vulnerability that Locus hadn’t seen. Even in the confines of their own ship, since staying with Reynolds was out of the question based on their own perceptions of how stupid that would be, it still felt like they had been wounded in a way. Felix didn’t want to stay with Reynolds because it would mean being alone after that. Locus didn’t want to stay there because it would mean being away from Felix for more than a few hours when he had grown accustomed to having him close again each night. The phasing of going from companion to coworker was still making Locus reel, blurring the line between the two until he couldn’t really tell where their friendship… their partnership began. Locus didn’t want to think too much on it though.

“Good plan opting to stay on our own ship for the night though,” Locus offered. Felix nodded in reply, leaning to pull up the blanket even if neither of them needed it. He let out a sigh and pulled Felix close. “Would you really be that bothered if he killed me?”

Felix pulled at his shirt. Locus couldn’t force himself to ask it again. Not from the way that Felix’s nails clung to the material of his shirt or the quiet noise that escaped the back of his throat as he asked the question, begging him to stop before he finished. _Would you really be that bothered if he killed me?_ Locus repeated it in his head as he pulled closer the man who was always so controlled with his emotions to never show signs of vulnerability. _Would you really be that bothered if he killed me?_ It rang out again, cutting him closer when he noticed Felix’s eyes squeezed shut and his chest hadn’t moved from holding his breath. Locus heard the breath hiss out, shaky when he pulled it in. This wasn’t a side everyone got to see. This wasn’t a show. Locus kissed his forehead. _Would you really be that bothered if he killed me?_ He would, by the way he clung to Locus and the uneven breaths, by the nails embedded in his skin through his shirt that refused to let him go. The reassurance had to be enough, at least for now.

“Don’t worry because he didn’t.”

\---

“Alright, bitches, we need to see what you’re really made of. Line up on the fucking wall so we can get a good look at you. If you meet our qualifications, we won’t shoot you on sight and you’ll be invited to join our ranks. Should you turn us down, we shoot you. Should you suck, we shoot you. Should you piss one of us off---” Felix spouted, yelling to the group of defected marines.

“And you’ll shoot us?” one marine asked, earning a bullet into his visor.

“Fucking interrupt me, and I’ll shoot you personally. Now! Who wants to show me what they’re made of and who wants to eat a bullet?” Felix grinned under his helmet as the marines got to work, laying one another out and sparring with maximum efficiency as he strutted around.

Locus shook his head and kept his hands busy with his rifle, looking up from time to time to check on progress. He thought back to Felix’s reaction the night before at the prospect of losing him. Locus put himself in the same position. No. Not even. He couldn’t even imagine clinging to Felix in the same manner. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; he just couldn’t fathom doing the action. He couldn’t think of himself acting on anything like that and Felix did it so fluidly. It was like he didn’t even think, though that wasn’t far off from how he acted normally. It made no sense. The man in front of him, pushing recruits to do what they must to race the bullet and get signed on. It contrasted so much from--- blast! Locus clenched his hands, releasing them after a minute.

“Come on you pieces of shit!” Felix shouted after dropping two more, surprising Locus with the sound of the shots. “I shouldn’t have to use any bullets for this! I shouldn’t! Stop being pieces of shit and start impressing me!” Locus looked up and just stared.

“Felix!” He motioned for him to come over, waiting the few minutes. Felix holstered his pistol, standing in front of Locus with arms akimbo.

“What?”

“You’re more… agitated than usual. Don’t you think you should tone it down?” Locus waited for the hiss over the mic, for Felix disagreeing with him at the first second he could.

“No I don’t think I should tone it down. I have a lot of shit to think about, like making sure we have forces to help us. I figure we should have something decent to work with if we want to have a chance against much of anything. We can’t just skate by Locus.” Locus took a step back at the snap, nodding slowly.

“I see. And this has nothing to do with last night?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Is that a yes?” Locus asked to confirm eyes growing wide.

Felix moved forward, pressing Locus back after he pulled his knife and pressed it to Locus’ throat. “I said shut the fuck up.” He pulled it away after he realized what he was doing. “Soldiers, you are dismissed. Go to the barracks. Those of you left alive, pick up the bodies and space them. We’ll resume drills later.” Locus took another step back, letting Felix deflate further.

“Come on.” Locus led Felix away for quiet time, carefully helping him remove his armor and peeling off his body suit. Locus hands worked over Felix’s shoulders, pulling away slightly when Felix tensed to his touch. He relaxed after a bit, Locus keeping his touches light. He knew this helped Felix even if he was tense now, even if he didn’t understand why. Touch didn’t mean as much to him but he wasn’t about to tell Felix that. He was too vulnerable right now, too raw, too on edge. He kept his touches light, waiting to press until after a few minutes had passed and he saw Felix’s breathing even out. Locus worked his fingers across his back, ignoring the body suit as it hung limply around Felix’s waist. Small bangs and noises surrounding them from the outside made Felix tense in his heightened state, yet Locus helped calm him.

Locus stood behind him, kneading his fingers into his back, working over his shoulders and back.

Felix started to melt into his touch, tensing slightly when he felt something soft brush his shoulders. He turned his head to the side, seeing those near black eyes practically closed as Locus’ lips brushed lightly over his skin. He didn’t notice when Locus had shed his gloves or his helmet, humming softly as he carefully touched Felix’s skin.

“Why are you doing this?” Felix asked after Locus pressed down a few more kisses, touched his shoulders and helped him relax.

“It helps you.”

“Is that the only reason?” Felix asked, still unsure, still not stopping him as he kept working while they spoke.

“Do you want it to be?” Locus asked quietly. Felix didn’t answer, not used to Locus acting the way he wanted him to. Now that he was, he wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“I don’t know.”

“Then yes, it’s just to help you. Are you relaxed?”

Felix nodded. “Yes, more so.”

“Then go train our men.”

\---

Felix returned later on after going back out. Locus had helped relax him in ways he hadn’t been able to comprehend but he was grateful regardless, making him trust the man even more than he already did.

“Did you see me out there today? I was a fucking god among those worthless ants.” Felix flexed a bit after shedding some of his armor, his greaves and codpiece still attached.

“I don’t think anyone would worship you as though you were a god, however, continue your fever dream. I need a laugh every now and then. In my head. Not out loud.” Locus shut up soon after, not wanting to bury himself further. “Don’t you usually strip down and shower before you even come into the bunks? Why are you breaking routine?”

Felix shrugged with a smile on his face. “Felt like it.”

“Felix, you never just ‘feel like it’ unless you’re stabbing someone, or slitting their throat or otherwise ridding your life of someone who find annoying. You don’t just do things because you feel like it. You’re deliberate. You always have a plan. Everything has a reason to it and I refuse to beli---” Felix had taken his chance to crawl across the bench Locus had seated himself on as he inventoried supplies, purposely distracting Locus for the intent of pressing a kiss to his lip while he spoke. Locus didn’t return the kiss the first time, or the second, instead waiting until the third, less hurried in its execution. Felix’s hands slid up Locus’ sides, running over his chest and cupped his cheeks. A fourth kiss pressed to his lips, and a gentle suction pulled at Locus’ lower lip, with a tenderness that Felix hadn’t used before. He had kissed him a handful of times, but not like this. This seemed more thought out. Planned almost. One of Felix’s hands left his cheek, pushing back into his growing dreads, lazily fingering through the rows to massage his scalp. He couldn’t help but hum softly at the gesture, leaning back on the bench and allowing Felix to crawl more into his lap. Felix took it as an invitation, opening his mouth and kissing him slowly. Locus pressed up into the attentions, the slow factor helping him ease into it. He followed Felix’s lead, opening his mouth slightly as well. Locus expected Felix to taste like blood and clove, surprisingly finding him sweet, faintly like cherries. Locus pulled back.

“You need to brush your teeth before you do this. It’s distracting when you have just eaten.” Locus licked his lips to get the taste off.

“Just shut up and kiss me,” Felix whispered, reclaiming his lips and pulling them between his teeth, nibbling slightly. Locus didn’t want to react to the fingers on his skin, trailing from his scalp to his neck. He didn’t want to give in to the lips that were making his breath ragged from the reaction they were stirring in him, especially after the other day. Locus didn’t want to give in and yet, he still found himself meeting those kisses. He was still pressing and pulling Felix down to lay against his chest as he nibbled at his lips and raked his nails down the flimsy cloth of his undershirt. Locus’ breath hitched when those nails worked their way under his shirt, pressing against his stomach and gripping at his hips. Felix became more insistent with kissing him, sliding their tongues together and curling his against Locus’. Felix pulled away this time, panting softly as he ground his hips into Locus’.

“I want you so badly right now,” Felix breathed against his lips, swollen from the teeth and the intensity. Locus shook his head softly, pulling away from him and climbing up the bench a bit.

“Not now. Not right now.” Locus leaned in to press a chaste kiss to Felix’s cheek, doing his best to ignore the look of hurt on his face as he pulled back at Locus’ words. Locus shook his head. “This is out of desperation.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Felix kneeled in front of him on the bench. “Where the fuck is the desperation in wanting to be close to you?”

“Felix…”

“I just want validation that you are still going to be here. I… don’t know what I would do…” Felix sounded so small. “Why would you say no?”

“Because last night you were clinging to me in fear that I would die.” Locus wouldn’t forget that gasp. He couldn’t.

“Fuck you. Just fuck you. I show you some attention like I know you want and you’re shoving me away like this. So just fuck you dude.” Felix turned to get up and leave and Locus caught his hand, pulling him back down to sit between his legs with his back against his chest.

“Felix…”

“No, that’s the thing, you get to be all calm and controlled and I’m supposed to be explosive so how am I supposed to react when you tell me no when you were clearly into it? Why would you push me away like this when you know that I---” Felix stopped, sealing his lips and refusing to speak further. “Nevermind. No. I want to go.”

“I am going to talk and you’re going to listen. You got that?” Locus waited for the slow nod as he wound his arms around Felix’s chest, holding him tight. “It’s going to take better men than Reynolds’ goons to take me out. It’s going to take more than some hired assassin to take me out. I am not going anywhere and to think that getting one last session in before you lay in fear that I’m going to die on you is offensive to the idea that you would let someone kill your partner that from what I can tell, you care about a great deal. Enough to beg for them not to die while your voice cracks to a man who had more power in his pinky than we can dream of.”

“Shut up.”

“It’s true, now listen. Reynolds isn’t going to kill me. If anyone has the worth to be able to have the honor of taking me out, it’s you and I know you won’t pull that trigger.” Locus kissed the top of his head, smoothing out the hair with one of his free hands when Felix’s breathing evened out enough to allow him to. “I know you live your life like every day is your last. I just can’t stand to see you hurt like you’re living my last day instead of yours.” Silence enveloped the room, washing over the two of them eventually as they waited for the tension of the moment to die down. _Would you really be that bothered if he killed me?_

 


	14. Bargaining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a small amount of Jackson/Locus in this.

Locus sat there and stared. “Excuse me?”

“What?” Felix asked, rolling his eyes. “You wanted to know about me and now you’re acting like you didn’t ask for this in the first place. How are we supposed to be on the same wavelength if you want to criticize every action about me that’s led up until now?” Felix winked. “I’m already critical enough of myself. This is how I am the perfect being you see before you.”

“Felix, you have murdered people for fun. I hardly call that perfect. I mean, how you killed Allen already puts you at far from perfect.”

“Yeah yeah.” Felix waved in response. “Pffft, take all of the fun out of it. You’re all fucking business and not enough fun.”

“I hardly see this as a time for ‘fun’. Felix we’re trying to better understand how the other works for the sake of knowing exactly how someone could use how we are against one another. I don’t want someone tearing us apart for their own gain.”

Felix stopped, face hardening and he frowned. “Fuck man, I’m not even that manipulative.”

“Sometimes I wonder.” Locus stifled a graveley laugh when Felix’s face scrunched up in disappointment.

“You know, I’m used to the pirates being sassy shits, but at least with them, I can threaten to space them.” Felix flopped, kicking his legs up. “I mean really, it’s like you have said this whole time: we’re partners. We’ve been at this for a while now. We’re going to be at this for a while longer and it’s probably going to take one of us dying to be able to break us apart. I mean shit, if I go, you go, right?” Locus stared at the ground as Felix talked. He couldn’t be serious. Locus was struggling to figure out who he was and Felix was planning to make some kind of death pact. “Not that I’m planning on it.”

Felix took Locus’ silence for what it was.

“Right.” Felix frowned again when Locus refused to engage further. Felix sat there watching him as he waited, looking to see if there really was anything there. The silence penetrated the room, to the point that the simplest shifting of boots or Felix’s irritated drumming of fingers was enough to make Locus wonder even further if he would really care if Felix died. He would. However, there were variables. There were always variables, and Felix wanted an answer. Cut and dry. Yes or no.

“Is this just because you’re worried about Reynolds?” Locus asked finally, breaking the silence that was starting to make each of them antsy from how long it had gone on. 

“This is not fucking because I’m worried about Reynolds. I’m worried about you. I know you have my back in this but if you’re wavering when I just talk about it, what the fuck am I supposed to think dude?” Felix sprung up from his spot on the couch, grumbling and starting to pace.

“It’s not that I’m wavering… I’m just wondering where the line of thought is coming from in the first place. I have your back. You have mine. I thought we each knew that about the other.” Locus nodded to prove his point, still not convincing Felix of anything so far. “Don’t get upset because you’re asking me about something that doesn’t even have a basis in reality. You’re asking me to come up with answers to scenarios that haven’t even been presented in any way so I don’t get why I would even bother to answer it.”

“To make me feel better?” Felix offered, shrugging a little.

“Oh so it’s about you this time.”

“You fucking know what?” Felix clenched his fists as he got started, wanting to get into his face.

“No, what is it Felix? Tell me. I want to know why you need to know how I’ll react. Is it so that you can deal with the fact that I’m the only person you have or is it to gauge how badly you want to sell me down the river when the price is good enough for you? Is it because you can’t bear the thought of losing me or because you want to see how bad it would be if you were faced with losing me because then you can prepare yourself for when you will betray me and take my cut. So really, what is it?” Locus’ chest heaved as he got more into his line of questioning, standing from his position on the chair to show Felix how serious he was about the entire thing. “Dwelling on what ifs and could bes isn’t going to make it so we’re on our A game. I’m not going to leave you in the dust. I’m hoping you aren’t going to leave me either. Though, we could retire now.”

Felix sat down and considered everything. He was just reacting at this point, pushing thoughts and ideas out through his lips that had lingered in his brain for too long. He was acting on instinct, not reason.

“We could retire now. However, Reynolds would never allow it. At least not in any way that had us leaving his office in anything but a box or an ashtray. You know it. Man’s fucking sick and I can’t believe we haven’t cut our losses, killed him, and run yet.” Felix pulled out a pen, twirling it between his fingers to keep himself busy.

“Maybe not, but we could always stack the deck in our favor. He brought us on because Allen was stupid enough to go after him. I would like to think that he would be on full alert if either or both of us were to approach him specifically and I’m certain he has his fingers in everything. It would be funny to buy off one of his assassins to kill him off though.” Locus shrugged slightly and cocked his head to the side as Felix laughed at the suggestion.

“He would be so fucking pissed when he figured out we sent someone after him to kill him though. Man, I would pay to see that look on his stupid fucking face. Like seriously. What a piece of shit. You know, if I had known that Reynolds was this much of a cock, I would have given you some kind of signal so that we could just like, shoot his stupid ass an get the fuck out of there. There are so many eyes on us in his ship. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was thinking up ways to spy on us on here too.” Felix threw the pen across the room, sticking it in the wall of the hotel. Locus froze, then slowly turned to Felix.

“Do you think he has our rooms bugged on our ship?” Felix pouted as Locus snorted in response. “What. Don’t even give me that shit.”

“You think he would be interested in everything we do in our rooms? I have a feeling he would take one look and immediately uninstall them.” Locus shook his head at the thought of his boss being that disgusting.

“Do you think we should put on another show for him in case he wants to watch?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Spoil sport.”

\---

Locus mulled over the idea of Reynolds spying on the two of them in the days that followed, getting more than a little paranoid when any of the pirates that they employed came to ask questions of them. Each of them had been a part of their core group for months at that point, all but a small handful pre-dating their time where they started to work for their new boss.

“Sir?” asked one of the space pirates, his gruff voice permeating the otherwise quiet room.

“Yes?” Locus looked up from his thoughts to the space pirate that he couldn’t tell apart from the others.

“Is everything okay, sir?” the pirate asked, not taking a step into the room until Locus motioned him inside and indicated he should shut the door.

“Everything’s fine. Why do you ask….?” Locus asked, his shoulders relaxing once the room was shut off again.

“Jackson, sir. I’ve worked with you and Felix for quite some time now and it’s become very easy to tell when one of you is on edge in some way. Something’s upsetting you.” Jackson nodded.

“Don’t worry about it. Everything is under control,” Locus said, looking up from his sniper rifle for a moment before busying his hands again and trying to push it all from his mind.

“Except it isn’t.” Jackson stared him down.

“Pardon?”

“Everything isn’t okay, sir. I’ve heard Reynolds talking to some of the other men. He likes how you and Felix work together but he wants to be able to control you separately. He wants to be able to ensure that you do things the way that he wants to. I think he has a plan to cause a rift between the two of you or otherwise shove a wedge where there isn’t one. I’ve not heard much other than that but my sources are true. They don’t expect us to talk to you two at all. Yet…”

“Yet?” Locus asked curiously, setting down the pieces of his sniper rifle to give Jackson his full attention.

“Yet, there are a few of us who would follow you into hell, sir. There are several of us who respect you both for the amount of dedication that you have to your craft. We know you take things seriously. They don’t know that I’m telling you this though. They don’t know that I know this much. There are only about three others with this information and all of us want Reynolds dead. We just don’t have the means to make it happen.” Jackson shifted as he spoke, pausing when he was finished when a female voice came over his helmet communicator. “I don’t have much more time. Reynolds has one of his right hands checking on everyone. Carter. Carter is the one that will be checking on us so watch out for her.”

Locus nodded, eyes following Jackson out the door. He couldn’t radio Felix now. No way he could bother with a communicator. Considering Felix’s previous issues with Reynolds, this would only make it more apparent that they needed to take him out. Locus drummed his fingers. He needed to get to Felix. He needed to get him somewhere where the two of them could talk and get this all out in the open. He needed to be able to talk to him without Carter getting in the way. He needed to get him off the ship. 

“Felix. Report.” Locus waited for the communicator to buzz in Felix’s frequency. Several minutes passed as he waited, hoping he wasn’t too late to get him in on the plan to be able to get them away from Carter and Reynolds and out of there. 

“Felix. Report,” Locus repeated into the communicator, this time opening it up to the entire frequency and not just the channel shared between the two of them. Very few people knew about the other channel and Locus wanted to keep it that way, making it easier for it to seem like they were in each other’s heads instead of just yelling directives at the other throughout the entirety of missions. 

“I’ll send your boy over to you when I finish up with him.” The icy severity in Carter’s voice as she came over the comm made Locus pause. 

“I need to speak with him immediately. We have business to attend to before the boss sends us out again in a few days.” Locus hid the fear in his voice, keeping his voice steeled in case she could sense weakness. 

“Carter out.”

Locus touched his comm link to Jackson. “Jackson. I have a job for you. I need you to not ask questions and just do what I say here. Am I understood?”

“Yes sir.”

\---

“Sir, are you sure she comes down at this time?” Jackson shifted, the proximity to his boss making him more than a little nervous considering.

“Positive.” Locus ground out the word. “Now shut up and keep kissing me. She’s got to believe that, right?” Locus pulled Jackson against him pressing his back firmly against the wall. 

“Okay. Because my mouth is numb. Also, you’re getting a boner from this, too, right?”

Locus looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “No.” He could feel the jab of the erection on his hip. “We just finished anyway. I don’t see why you would be ready to go again.”

“I’m not.” Jackson shifted again, adjusting the front of his pants after pulling away slightly. “I mean, not me either.”

“You’re a worse liar than Felix.”

“Shut up she’s going to catch us.”

Locus pulled Jackson into another fumbled kiss when he heard the boots heading around the corner, their plan to throw Carter off their trail in motion. The boots stopped, scraping against the floor when she saw. 

“What exactly are the two of you up to?” Carter asked, lip curled but staring in confusion. Locus pulled away from Jackson, letting out a huff that didn’t give away that her confusion was working for him. 

“Nothing, Carter. We’ll take this somewhere else.” Locus pulled Jackson with him toward his bunk and pulled on his helmet. “Felix,” he said on their secure channel.

“Yes?” He sounded more than a little irritated. “Goddammit, Carter is driving me up the wall. Where the shit did she come from? She keeps talking about how I’m difficult just for asking questions. How _am_ I supp---”

Locus cut Felix off. “Don’t worry about where she came from. Worry about what she might try to do. You trust me right?” Locus waited a few moments as the line went silent.

“Yes… why?”

“Whatever she tells you is a lie if it’s about me. Just remember that. I’ll fill you in later. Locus out.”

“L--” Felix’s words were cut off by Locus cutting the communication when he heard Carter’s boots click outside his room. 

“I think it worked,” Locus panted out, still inches from Jackson. “I can’t be--” Locus didn’t a chance to finish before Jackson pulled him down onto the bed, the two of them grasping at each other.

\---

“What in the hell were you thinking!” Felix paced back and forth in Locus’ bunk long after Carter had retired to her quarters. Jackson had left hours ago, and the two of them had been huffing and crossing their arms in the direction of the other for more than enough time. 

“I was thinking that maybe I cared enough about the mission and upcoming missions to make sure you had my back!” Locus shot back. He growled out his words, tired of fighting with Felix over how stupid this was to begin with. “I wanted you to be okay and I can’t do that with that Carter woman getting up in our business like this!”

“Where the fuck did she even come from?!” Felix kicked the footlocker at the bottom of Locus’ bed, lips curled in a snarl when kicking it hurt even through his boot. “I don’t understand why she’s here. What the fuck is she doing? Why is she following me around asking me questions about _you?_ Where the hell is she getting off thinking tha---” Felix shut up when Locus used the same tactic on him that Jackson had used before. Locus’ hands were on either side of his face, pulling him in for a kiss that he didn’t expect. Felix fought it at first out of frustration, before melting into the lips on his, deepening the kiss and going with it. Locus took a chance, sliding his tongue between Felix’s lips and against the stud. Felix kissed him back, kissing him with a desperation that was absent from the previous one. This raw need swelled up in Locus and he gripped the back of Felix’s neck, working his other arm around his waist to hold him close. 

“You have to trust me, Felix,” Locus rasped out once the kiss broke, leaving the two of them panting. “You have to. I know that isn’t easy to do, but if you’re worried about them killing me, you should be equally worried about what would happen to me if they killed you. I know you scoffed at me before when I said it, but we’re partners. We look out for each other. I am just as much here for you as you are here for me in this and I don’t want to think about training up someone new for the sake of whatever it is that Reynolds is trying to prove.” Locus held fast to Felix’s cheeks as he spoke. “You’re important and we have been through a lot. I am not throwing that away.” Felix stared at him, having not seen Locus so impassioned about anything in a long time. 

“Reynolds wants to do what?” Felix growled out his response at Locus being so on edge, even if it was half-hearted at best. “I swear, the more we work for this guy, the more I want to take him out myself.”

“I’m going off of second hand information, Felix, but I don’t think that he would tell me it if there was something off about his information. Jackson--” Locus stopped talking when Felix put his hands up to Locus’ lips. 

“Jackson is one of the newer guys right? We picked him and his people right? They didn’t come along like Carter did with Reynolds?” Felix rubs the pad of his thumb over Locus’ lips. “I can take care of him if you--” Locus shook his head, and he would have pulled Felix in for another kiss if he wasn’t so intent on listening to what he had to say.

“No! No. Look, I have some things to tell you about Jackson. He’s on our side. We can trust him. Most importantly, he told me about what would happen to you if Reynolds got his way. He’s with us. Trust me.” Locus watched Felix’s expression as it softened. 

“Then he’s with us. What did he tell you?”


	15. Supernova

Locus always thought the sound of enamel grinding together sounded like stepping through fresh snow, but pointing that out to Felix right now would do no good. After explaining what was going on with Carter and Reynolds, Felix’s mood turned sour. He and Locus hadn’t left Locus’ room, but Locus didn’t want him heading out after either of them half-cocked and angry. There was too much at stake and they needed a plan before they stormed in there. Locus explained that if they went in looking like a unified front, Reynolds would pick up on it. He would send in some of his men to make sure they got hit with friendly fire, passing it off as enemy fire. Locus couldn’t take that chance. Not now. Not ever. Felix’s clenched fists and growled breaths as he agreed put Locus at ease, but not enough for him to feel like Felix would listen if _he_ got hurt. Felix could soak up several bullets and keep going like it was nothing, but Locus was aware that Felix wouldn’t let the same happen to him. Felix would sooner face down a gun than lose his partner and they both knew it.. Locus found it endearing, even if it was careless, which concerned him further. Felix should be concerned with ensuring that they both make it out together.

“We have to have a plan for if he sends us out again. I know he’s going to soon, but I don’t know when. He’s sent us out for little piddly missions so far after giving us a huge sign on and nothing regarding our skill. It’s like he acquired us for the sake of--- Felix are you even listening to me?” Locus looked over at his partner, raising an eyebrow at how much louder the sound of metal on metal had gotten from the scratches that Felix was etching into the top of the table on the far side of Locus’ room. Locus crossed the few steps, setting a hand on Felix’s shoulder before drawing it back as Felix flinched. “I get you’re angry and everything, but could you find something better to take it out on than my table. It has done nothing to you.”

“You said if anyone was going to take you out, it was going to be me. You said that if anyone would be the one to kill you, it would be me.” Felix stood up from the chair, slamming one hand against the table top before pushing Locus up against the wall. His forearm was against his chest to hold him steady; the other hand pressing the knife up against Locus’ throat. “You know if anyone is going to do it, it’ll be me. You know I can’t do it though. I need you. I can threaten it. But when it comes down to actually doing it.” Felix pushed the blade into Locus’ throat, small beads of blood welling up around the blade. Locus didn’t move, waiting for Felix to finish. “When it comes down to actually doing it…” Felix dropped his knife, leaning forward to lick the small beads of blood from Locus’ skin, bringing his hand up to his cheek and sheathing the knife. “When it comes down to actually doing it, I can’t. You kept asking if it would really bother me if they killed you. It seems like a lifetime ago. The question still haunts me and just knowing that you know I have this kind of weakness?” Felix took Locus’ lips against his, kissing him softly. “Yes. It would bother me. I need you. I don’t even know if you need me as much as I need you, but it would bother me if they killed you. It would bother me to the point where I would hunt every one of them down to ensure that they could never tear up a partnership like this again.” Felix swallowed hard, taking a step back from Locus when the intimacy of the intense situation was still enveloping the two of them. “I know you wouldn’t say anything to anyone else, but if you tell anyone about this, I will kill you myself.”

Locus nodded. “It’s good to have an answer to the question though. That being said, we need to ensure that we have a plan of attack then. We need to make sure that the two of us don’t look too unified when we’re under Carter’s watchful eye or when Reynolds actually uses us for something other than the stuff that Allen usually considered a waste of our talent.” Locus closed the distance between the two of them again. “Thank you. It’s good to hear you answer the question even if I know you would rather bury everything like it doesn’t bother you.”

“I’m too transparent for that, and you know it. You’re better at hiding everything than I am. You should show me how you do it.” Locus cocked an eyebrow at Felix.

“You just don’t react.” Locus looked in alarm when his helmet flashed with a message. Felix’s followed suit and the two of them secured the helmets on their suits, reading their identical messages. _Locus. Felix. Briefing room. 1900. Don’t be late._ Locus noticed Felix’s lip curl in disgust again when he took off the helmet, noting the time on his HUD; fifteen minutes until they would be expected.

“I guess I’ll have to show you another time.” Locus shifted nervously. Reynolds was changing the game around them and the both of them needed to get out of there alive.

\---

“Locus. Felix. So good of you both to see my message. I take it you’re both well.” Reynolds’ purr as he greeted the both of them just made Felix bristle further, especially after learning that Reynolds wanted to separate them.

“Yes sir. What do you have for us?” Locus offered first, stepping up toward the desk in front of him that had once been the scene that determined to separate him and Felix.

“It’s not like you to be so eager, Locus. What’s gotten into you? A certain pirate on your payroll?” Reynolds’ slime dripped off every every word, eyeing him up and down. Locus was able to hide the fire on his cheeks at Reynolds knowing that he had slept with Jackson, but at least he wasn’t trying to go after Felix. His partner shifted next to him. “Anyway. I am getting off track. I need the two of your to… pick up something for me. There is an artifact that I need. It is sealed in a box for safe keeping so you two won’t have to worry about damaging it on your trip. I need you two to retrieve it. Bring it back to me. Bring it back to me and take out all of their men and I’ll add a kill bonus to your pay. You two may go.” Reynolds spun around in his chair, not allowing the pair to ask questions of their trip or know anything other than the navigation points that popped up on their HUDs a moment later when he uploaded them. Reynolds put his tablet down once he finished, tenting his fingers. Locus motioned for Felix to follow him, as he had been unusually quiet this time. The two of them packed for their trip, setting off in their frigate and preparing a shuttle for when they got closer to the base that they planned to raid. Locus grew more uneasy with each moment Felix was quiet.

“Felix?” Locus started, looking for a way to snap him out of his silence. Felix said nothing, slinging a pack of supplies over his arm as they got closer to the base they were infiltrating. “Felix, what’s wrong?” Still no answer. Several hours passed in uneasy silence. Locus grew more fidgety as time went on without Felix saying a word to him.

As they got closer to the base, Locus grew more worried that something was going to go wrong. Felix was never this quiet when it came to missions. He usually found himself chattering away about something or another. The silence was deafening. Locus pulled off his helmet. He came up behind Felix.

“Hey, what’s going on in that head of yours?” Locus asked, after touching Felix’s shoulder and making him flinch. “You’ve been really quiet and honestly it’s a little unnerving. What is happening that you’re not telling me?” Felix turned around to meet him and when Locus suggested that he take off his own helmet, Felix shook his head.

“I can’t. Not right now. Just trust me.” Locus cocked his head to the side, concerned when Felix’s voice sounded smaller than usual. Less confident. Child-like.

“What’s got you so rattled? You’re normally better than this.” Locus shifted in front of him, figuring that the stab at his demeanor would help draw out the Felix that he saw every day as opposed to the Felix that only came out when no one else was watching. Felix shook his head.

“It’s nothing. Reynolds just pisses me off. I can’t stand the way he talks to us like we’re his own personal lap dogs. We should kill him the next chance we get.” Locus nodded at Felix in agreement.

“I have zero problem with that. Just a matter of when and how. I don’t like this any more than you do, but at least it’s a paycheck. Better than what we could be doing.” Locus nodded, prompting Felix to mimic him. “You sure you’re not going to lose it on me out there?”

“I’m not going to lose anything out there. You can count on that,” Felix said with a nod. “Well, unless you count all the bullets that I’m going to leave behind in every sorry son of a bitch that happens to be on post today and is between us and our objective. I know we don’t have to do the kill bonus, but the idea of killing each and every one of them while thinking of them having Reynolds’ face is more than I can resist right now.” Felix checked his pistol as they docked at the spaceport. “You ready?”

“Affirmative.”

\---

Just walking in the building meant they were already losing. Locus didn’t know about the planned pirates that were going with them that were just Carter’s eyes and ears, set with the intent of making that rift between the two mercenaries more permanent. Locus couldn’t see all the eyes watching him as he followed just paces behind Felix, intent on ensuring that whatever was coming their way couldn’t see them. Locus wouldn’t hear the extra communication between the partners that were shouting how they planned to make sure that only one of the mercenaries came back in one piece. It didn’t help that Locus was still looking. He still wanted to know. He wanted to listen. He needed to keep them safe.

Felix made his way to the other side of the room, taking his position to be able to hit their target like they had talked out, motioning to Locus. He clicked on their personal channel.

“Yo, what’s got you so on edge? Did you hear something with Reynold’s people? I know Carter---” Felix stopped short, ducking down when the two of them heard something in the distance. “Why the fuck are we here in the first place? Reynolds didn’t tell me shit about this mission other than go in, kill some guys and get the fuck out. I added the fuck.”

Locus shook his head. “You know what I know. Really, I think he’s setting something up with how much Carter has been following us around lately. I wouldn’t be sur---” Locus stopped, noticing a small red dot trained on the side of Felix’s visor where he wasn’t able to see.

“You wouldn’t be sur--what? Locus, what the fuck are you babbling about? Get down!” Felix turned in time to see Locus stand up, the laser sight making the bullet hit his shoulder instead of Felix’s face, dropping back down almost immediately with a grunt. “What the fuck are you doing? Do you want to get us both killed?!”

“No! I’m trying to make sure _you_ don’t. They know where you are. Take better cover; I’m going to try to draw them out while you find a place to hit them from. Look for sights from anywhere.”

Felix dove for cover, slipping as he did. A bullet hit the ground by his food and he scrambled for cover. As Locus made his way towards Felix’s position behind a pillar, he could see a few other of their men circling around the both of them. He winced in pain as two shots hit him in the ribs and he heard Carter come on over the radio.

“It’ll be a shame,” she sneered, “telling Reynolds that you came back full of holes while your partner was killed on this mission. I just wonder, will it be worse if we bring him over to you when we put the bullet between his eyes or do you want to hear him scream over the comm as we slowly kill him.” Locus grit his teeth and pulled away from his position behind one of the crates, shooting at the bright blue accents mixed into Carter’s grey armor.

“I don’t know Carter. How will it feel to know that I’m going to be the one who kills you before you can get to him? How will you be able to take him out when you’re too busy trying to breathe in your last breath?” Locus rang off two shots, taking out the soldiers flanking her and drawing attention away from Felix. He wished he had brought his sniper but in such a close range fight, it made no sense. Carter snarled at the defiance, closing the distance between them. She fired off a few pulses from her battle rifle, hitting him in the chest, but Locus refused to slow down.He took another shot to the chest, running on adrenaline at this point as he closed in on the woman intent on trying to make their lives hell.

When she got to him, spitting blood into her helmet, Locus pressed a magnum to her throat. He could hear Felix taking out the others around them, slicing into one after another, finishing them with his own pistol.

Locus pressed the gun into her neck, cocking his helmet towards her slightly.

“What’re you gonna do, shoot---” The shot rang out and she fell to the floor.

“Yes.” Locus clutched his chest, blood seeping out of his chest piece. He could see Felix finishing up with the other men across the room and he waved for a moment before collapsing on the floor. So much for the mission.

\---

Locus was dragged by Felix onto their shuttle, throwing the package they were meant to pick up to the other side of the craft. He regretted not taking someone with the two of them to be able to fly them out of there. However, they hadn’t expected to be attacked. According to Reynolds’ plans, it should have been a simple in and out with very little needing to be done. The kill bonus was optional and while Felix was enticed by the idea, Locus knew they needed to focus on the main objective before doing anything else. Locus hadn’t even thought about going after it and now, he was too busy trying to keep from bleeding out. Felix shoved a canister of biofoam into his hands, pushing it into one of the many bullet wounds that had managed to pierce Locus’ armor in the raid that quickly turned into a bloodbath.

After several tense minutes, Locus slipped further out of consciousness. He knew he was losing more than enough blood to die, approaching critical levels as his health indicator dropped lower on the bar. He could hear Felix engaging the autopilot that would take them back to the main frigate, giving Felix some time to tend to him before they got there.

“Song of a bitch, Locus why the fuck did you have to go and get fucking shot,” Felix muttered under his breath once he pulled his helmet off, also taking off Locus’ off in case he couldn’t hear him. Several of Locus’ systems were shot inside his suit, both literally and figuratively, making it even harder for the armor to support him in the way that it should when he was in such critical condition. Locus brought his hand up to his stomach, barely able to register the sting of the biofoam as it attempted to stop the bleeding before they got back to their frigate and the fully loaded medical bay. At least they wouldn’t have to go to a civilian hospital--their medical center was fully upgraded.

“God fucking dammit Locus. What was your fucking problem back there?” Felix hissed, glancing back from time to time to check to make sure that the autopilot was engaged properly. “Here I fucking am, having to patch your dumb ass up because you don’t know how to stay out of the way of a couple of bullets. What the fuck is wrong with you? You’re normally not this careless.” Felix continued to mutter as he worked on him. Locus, even in his battered state, could tell Felix was growing more concerned the longer he worked on him. Between the shattered armor and bullet holes, Felix could see the damage was much worse than originally assessed and his curses started to get more creative.

“I mean, fucking hell Locus. I know you want me to notice you but do you have to get yourself shot? Damn, you know I respond just as well to you grabbing me and kissing me.” Felix laughed nervously, tossing aside another towel that he had dug out of a cabinet after soaking it with blood. Locus knew he was just trying to find a way to keep him from dying. He needed to know the truth behind it though.

“They were aiming for you,” Locus said weakly, covering Felix’s hand on his abdomen with his own. “They were going to shoot you and I couldn’t let that happen.”

Felix sat in shock for a few moments, taking in that his partner cared enough to die for him. Locus shook his head when Felix started to sputter in protest.

“You stepped in front of a fucking bullet and got your dumb ass shot because you didn’t want me to get shot? Locus they got you in the fucking stomach. There is another bullet in your shoulder. I think your arm is broken from where you tackled me to the ground to make sure that I didn’t get hit with that rocket blast. If I had been hit in any of those places---”

“You would be dead. You were crouched when they got my stomach and a few steps below me on the stairs when they got my shoulder. You would be dead.” Locus sucked in a breath, coughing it out.

“Stop trying to justify being a hero when you know I can fucking take care of myself!” Felix yelled, applying more pressure to the wound in Locus’ stomach. It wouldn’t stop bleeding and while Locus was worried that they weren’t going to make it back in time, Felix’s mental state was a more pressing concern. “I would be fucking fine without you. I would. I know you asked me before ‘would you really be that bothered if he killed me?’ and while the answer is yes, watching you die is so much worse. You’re the one that keeps calling us partners. You’re the one who keeps making sure that we’re together. I can’t fucking do that if you go dark on me, Locus!” Felix pounded his fist against the floor. “I can’t make sure that we’re a team if you’re gone.” Felix nudged Locus after a moment. When he didn’t stir, Felix started lightly slapping his face, yelling anything to get him to show that he was still with him.

“Locus? Locus! Don’t you fucking die on me! You know the only one allowed to kill you is me and I’m not done with you yet! Locus!” Felix grit his teeth, unable to figure out what to do next. “Locus you son of a bitch, you can’t fucking die on me! I’m still not done with you!” When Locus still didn’t stir, his voice dropped to a whisper. “I need you not to be done with me too.”

 


	16. Event Horizon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In layman's terms, it is defined as "the point of no return", i.e., the point at which the gravitational pull becomes so great as to make escape impossible.

_Locus woke up. The room was different this time. This wasn’t his bunk. He didn’t recognize it as Felix’s bunk either, but he couldn’t remember the last time he had slept there, even when he was exhausted. He couldn’t remember… Wait, Felix. Locus looked around, surprised that Felix wasn’t curled around his legs. Felix wasn’t there at all. He opened his mouth to call out to him, but his voice refused to work. He had to find Felix. He pulled himself out of bed, aching. His joints screamed in agony from getting out of bed, sluggish limbs carrying him out of his own bunk and down the hall. He tried his voice again, unable to get out anything._

_‘You shouldn’t be awake.’ A nurse appeared in front of him as he clutched his ribs from the exhaustion of walking those few steps. She poked his ribs, making them erupt in pain and blood. He stared down at the blood that had started to seep, swallowing hard as he pressed his hand to his side to stop it from oozing out of him._

_‘You shouldn’t be awake. He will worry about you.’ The nurse guided him back to his room. ‘You need to sleep. Sleep will help.’ Her voice seemed to be changing with every word._ “Please, Locus. Please.”

_Locus stared in confusion and when he looked up to ask the nurse where he should go, she had vanished._

_Locus woke up. He recognized his surroundings but they were strange. He hadn’t been here in years and the familiarity mixed with what he remembered recently, creating a muddled soup in his brain._

“Hello?” _he called into the house, surprised with his voice working this time and carrying as much as it normally did._ “Felix?” _Locus didn’t expect Felix to be in the home he grew up in, but he still felt the need to call out to him. How had he gotten here in the first place? He didn’t remember coming home or visiting with family in any degree in years, not since before he had left for the army. His mother had wept for him those first few days, begging him not leave when they were at war._

_‘This might be the last time I see you,’ she claimed pitifully, clinging to his shirt. He had kissed her cheek, the last shreds of human affection towards someone that he would show for years._

_‘Why are you here?’ he asked, touching her shoulder, surprised when it was cold to the touch, startling him._ “Why are you so cold?”

 _‘I want you to come back after your service. I’m going to miss you while you’re gone, and thinking about you not coming back isn’t something I want to do, Luca.’ Her ice-cold fingers touched his cheek._ “Come back to me Luca.”

_Locus woke up._

_Jacobi screamed next to him as the alien attacked, and he looked around for him. Fuck, where was Felix? He was supposed to be here. He checked his motion tracker, seeing nothing and went back to administering the biofoam to keep Jacobi from bleeding out. Where was he? Why wasn’t he here? Why didn’t the motion tracker show him being here?_

_‘Felix?_ Please, _where are you?_ I know you’re alive _, you’re on my trackers. Come on,_ I need to see you _. Where are you?’_

“Locus!” _Felix’s voice called back to him, from far away… But was it to him? Who was Locus? He was Almeida._

_Locus woke up._

_Allen stood over him, hand on his shoulder. ‘Locus, so good of you to join us. Felix and I have been talking about the best ways to utilize the two of you. I can always make more money when I have the two of you going on separate missions because more is getting done.’ His hand left Locus’ shoulder, and Locus tore his eyes off it to watch the sneer that formed on Allen’s lips. ‘Now, tell me, how can I benefit from wasting my resources with the two of you joining one another in missions instead of sending you separately?’_

_Locus’ throat felt like glass when he swallowed, breaking under the tightness of his voice. Felix saw him start to speak, saw him falter, and spoke up for him._

_‘We’re a team, sir. The two of us work well together. If you send us separately, even with a small fire squad, you can send the two of us without it and you can always know the job will get done. So_ please _don’t break me and_ Locus _up. You would me making a huge mistake and living a nightmare that you wouldn’t_ wake up _from if you split us up. We’re efficient together. Christ man,_ open your eyes. _” Felix’s tone should have been matter-of-fact, logical, a note of ‘duh.’ Locus knew how Felix spoke. So why did this sound like pleading?_

_Locus woke up._

_Felix laid next to him, chest rising and falling as he slept. He tested Felix’s skin, finding the temperature slightly cool, just how he remembered him. Locus turned, leaning over to kiss his cheek and brushed some of the fading mohawk out of Felix’s eyes, even if they were closed. They so infrequently had time like this, just to themselves. Locus settled back down, curling his arm around Felix’s shoulders and pulling him close to his chest. Felix stirred slowly, pressing small kisses to his chest. These quiet mornings, stolen moments where the two of them could just be people again, not tools of destruction._

_‘Do we have to get up?’ Felix asked quietly, morning just barely starting. Locus knew half the ship was already awake thanks to the varying shifts to ensure it ran smoothly._

_‘Not yet. We can stay here a bit longer.’ Locus closed his eyes again, resetting the alarm._

_‘Locus?’_

_‘Hm?’_

_‘Think Reynolds will pay us enough to retire in the end?’_

_‘Possibly. This assumes that we don’t get killed in the process, by his means or enemies, or we don’t off him like what happened with Allen.’ Locus opened his eyes and looked down to Felix watching him. ‘What is it?’_

_Felix shook his head. ‘I don’t want to think about that,’ he said uncharacteristically soft._ “I couldn’t do this without you.” _His voice dropped, mouthing the words instead. ‘I love you.’_

Locus woke up.

\---

Locus didn’t open his eyes immediately, focusing on the steady rise and fall of his chest as he tried to ignore the ache of his broken ribs. He stared at the ceiling, surprised that he wasn’t still in armor, even if his body suit had been switched out thanks to multiple bullet wounds in his thighs, chest and gut making it no longer space ready. The extra machines his body suit were hooked up to, including the healing unit that had been attached, were already proof of how serious everything happened to be.

“You’re so fucking stupid.” Felix’s voice sounded so weak, raspy for one reason or another. “Why did you step in front of that bullet for me? You were reckless. You did stupid fucking shit. For me? Why? I know that we lean on each other. You’re too strong physically to be the one standing with one foot in the grave.” His voice quieted. “You’re too close to death.” Locus sat and listened for a bit longer, hearing Felix pour out his thoughts when he thought no one was listening. Felix quieted when the nurse came in to check on Locus’ progress, confirming again that the body suit was indeed helping with the healing.

“Why the fuck were you risking yourself like this though? Why in the hell would you even bother to go this far? You have four fucking broken ribs and your risked your goddamned life doing that stupid fucking move that risked _us_ as a team because yeah okay, you wanted to make sure I was fine with everyone coming at us. Still, Jesus Christ dude. Why in the fuck?” Felix bent over while seated, raking his fingers through his hair.

Locus opened his mouth to speak, but he knew that Felix hadn’t seen everything he had. He didn’t see Carter coming at them. He just saw her fall and figured that it was from the enemy side. Felix was too focused on what was in front of him to see all the laser sights trained on him, waiting for the order to get rid of him like Reynolds had wanted to do. There’s no way he could know what Locus had done for them. It wasn’t important. Felix didn’t need to know that they were both alive because Locus was willing to die for them. He still couldn’t remember what had happened between shooting Carter and being dragged onto their ship for evac.

“I can’t even lean on the fact that I dragged you out of there because we’re partners. I can’t say it was to complete the mission. All I have to go on is it was the right thing to do to make sure that I made it home whole by bringing you with me.” Locus heard some shuffling. “Why is it so much easier to think in my head and say that I care about you enough to think that it’s something like love but the second you’re standing in front of me all I can think about is the smirk I need to deflect anything from getting too serious. You’ve _ruined_ me, Locus.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “And I don’t know how to thank you for it.”

Locus heard the breath heave from the other side of the bed. “I just want you to wake up and feel better so we can kill Reynolds and get the fuck out of here. I don’t care how we have to do it so long as we make it out together.” Felix’s hand found Locus’ on the bed, still wired up to an IV drip and monitors.

Their medic came in to check on Locus as Felix glared at her, waiting for her to finish so he could return to his spot at his partner’s side, refusing all missions and messages from their employer until Locus woke up.

Later that night, after the medic made her nightly rounds, Locus spoke up.

“Did you mean it?”

Felix’s head shot up from where it had been laying on the bed next to his thigh and he did his best to not look embarrassed. “Mean what?”

“Do you care?” Locus stares up at the ceiling to give Felix some sense of privacy. He nodded until Felix realized Locus wasn’t looking at him, then only offered a quiet ‘yes.’

“You realize I would have done the same for you, right?” Locus coughed after, his throat dry from all the medications and painkillers. The added strain made his chest ripple with pain.

“I know. I just don’t know what I would do if I lost you. I need you. I’ve never needed anyone before, but I need you.” Felix turned away from him, picking at the pads of his gloves.

“I lo--”

“Don’t fucking call it that. Do not. This isn’t like that. This is companionship. This is occasional sex. This is having each other’s backs through hell and back and knowing that if we face something, we face it together. Don’t you dare try to liken it to love and tell me it is. I never called it that and I don’t want you to either.” Felix stared at him with indignation as Locus laughed softly.

“What? Why the fuck are you laughing about that?” Felix sat up, leaning over him and looking him in the eye.

“You wanted to call it something like love when you thought I couldn’t hear you but to hear me say it makes you jump away like I want to burn you. Fine. You’re my partner. Through whatever that means, I have your back and you have mine, no matter how badly I’ve ruined you.” Locus laughed even more when Felix blushed, an action he had seen so infrequently, he wondered if he was sick. “Come here.” Locus pulled Felix down to hug him, scooting over on the bed in the medical office and wincing as he shifted. This felt more comfortable.

“Thank you for not dying on me.”

“I have you to thank for being alive.”

_Would you really be that bothered if he killed me?_

_I couldn’t do this without you._

\---

In the weeks that followed, the pair had more time to think and talk about where they had come from as well as what lay ahead. Felix didn’t want to think about it, but the less Locus spoke about anything, the more he felt the need to say something to fill the silence.

“I don’t want to call it love. I don’t want to liken it to that because each and every other person who has cared about me like that has died or gotten under my skin to the point where I didn’t see the need for them anymore. There’s always been a need for you though. In the years that we have been together, regardless of what it was that tried to drive us apart, there was always this bond that kept up stitched together. I just don’t want to put a label on it and call it something and give it expectations when I’m perfectly happy with what it is and where we are. I don’t want to lose this because we have chosen to call it something else.” Felix shifted, careful of the bandages that kept Locus together right now, nuzzling himself into his chest for the sake of knowing that yes, he had gotten him out and he was still here. “Deep down though, underneath it all, I do know that I need you. I need you at my side as that driving force because while I remind you that what we do is for the sake of doing what’s right, I need you there as a way of remembering why I do it in the first place. I’m not exactly sure what that means in the grand scheme of things, but I do know that it means I want you here. I need you here, and I don’t why. But I do. I need you to keep going. I need so much from you that thinking about you not being there? It’s not something I want to think about actually.”

Locus nodded in understanding, having already gotten to this point with Felix long before he said anything in any detail. The two of them had been fighting, side by side, both with and against each other, for years at this point. The spats, the disagreements, the world that lay ahead of them seemed empty without considering the other being there. He still frowned at the idea of Felix not wanting to call it love, even if he wasn’t sure what he felt was love in the first place.

“Trust.”

“Excuse me?” Felix asked, sitting up a bit to stare Locus in the eye.

“We call it trust. That’s what’s been there this whole time anyway. It isn’t love, you’re right. It’s trust holding us together because even on the days where I absolutely can’t stand the sight of you, I still trust you to have my back. I know you trust me to have yours. I know that all in all, at the end of this, it’s going to come down to how much do I trust the person in front of me and do I have any reason to doubt? Without doubt and with us fully trusting the other, then we have no reason not to be at the other’s sides because that’s the basis of any partnership: trust.” Locus waiting for Felix to process what he had said, figuring he would agree with him once he had fully come to realize what he meant.

“You know, that no matter what you feel for me, if you tell me or not, I can agree on trust, right? Trust doesn’t get in the way of duties. It just helps enforce them.” Felix leaned down to kiss him, half-smile cocked on his lips.

“Exactly.”

\---

“Reynolds has us briefed for another mission,” Felix said with a laugh, clicking accept on his readout. He finished sharpening his knife on the stone in front of him, sheathing the blade and stowing the last of his throwing knives. He made sure he had a few other tools just in case he needed them. Hard to know when pliers would come in handy. The job involved some breaking and entering and last time, Felix needed them. He secured them in his tactical pack as Locus moved a little more gingerly over to the shotgun he normally took after hoisting the sniper rifle Felix had gotten him, complete with a few more notches on the stock. They had to be ready for this mission that Reynolds was sending them on. Something about taking out a politician who had risen to power too quickly for Reynolds’ liking and he wanted his best men to be the ones to take him out. Problem was, the man kept himself hidden relatively well and it was going to turn into a game of cat and mouse just to find him.

As Locus pulled up the map where they were headed according to Reynolds’ briefing, he frowned a bit. Not a lot of space for cover for them coming in and a lot of defensible positions for their enemy. Looked like another suicide run.

“This one wants us doing recon and potential infiltration? It’s been awhile since either of us have done that though. Might need to brush up on a field manuals.” Locus snorted.

“I burned that a long time ago. Probably around the time we left the UNSC. Figured since we didn’t belong in civilian life, having a manual on military life when we weren’t exactly military didn’t make much sense. Now I need it.” Felix made a face while Locus snorted.

“You do know they keep digital versions in our helmets right? So that we can access them whenever we want? Or did you forget that in all your time as a mercenary?” Locus laughed at the blank expression on Felix’s face. “You seriously forgot that didn’t you?”

“No. I didn’t. Okay well maybe. Shut up. Yes. Shut up. What matters is that it’s now that I need it and I don’t have to carry around a stupid _book_ that I’d rather _set on fire_ than hold onto. So shut up. Okay? Thank you. Bye.” Felix started to walk away for a moment.

“You still need your helmet. You know, the thing that has your field manual in the first place.” Locus pursed his lips together to keep from laughing even more when Felix stomped his way back to his foot locker to grab the helmet.

“You’re lucky I like you.”

“Oh yeah? What would you do if you didn’t?” Locus snapped on his helmet.

Felix stuck out his tongue as he snapped his own on. “I don’t know. But shut up.”

“You’re still sticking your tongue out at me, aren’t you?” Locus asked, checking the amount of clips for his magazines.

“Okay, you know what!” Felix stuck out his finger in defiance.

“What?”

“Yes I was. Let’s go.”


	17. The Raven and the Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings! This chapter contains some sexual content. It also has extreme torture including hand mutilation, body parts being cut off, body organ removal, cauterization, eye gore, Felix monologues and borderline cannibalization tendencies.

Felix waited impatiently. Reynolds had contacted Locus on what he wanted to brief them on for the mission, but hadn’t gone into detail beyond that. Felix was itching at this point to do something, anything, to make this man pay for thinking he was smarter than them. He just wasn’t going to see it coming. Felix had muttered to himself over and over about what he wanted to do to the man that almost made him lose everything and Locus began to see just how much, even more than he already had, that this was affecting Felix. _Trust_. Trust had meant the world to them and in those moments when he heard those words spilling out of Felix’s mouth, he knew, that the two of them, even if they hated each other, even if they were at odds, even if they got on the other’s nerves, they still cared deep down for the bond they had started to share over these several years that they had been together.

“You realize I’m going to kill him right?” Felix asked, looking up at Locus from the chair he had taken in Reynolds’ office while they waited. “I am going to fucking kill him and there is nothing that is going to stop me from doing it. Nothing. I will not let him think even for a second that he can get the better of _me_ , the better of _us_ , and get away with it. I just need him to know that he can’t do that to _me._ I don’t care if he does it to anyone else. I just. I can’t. Not us. Not me. Not you. Not…” His hands shook in anger and Locus went over to take them, holding onto him and looking down where he sat in the seat.

“He’s not going to after we finish with him. He won’t be able to do anything like this again because monsters like him shouldn’t be allowed to call the shots.” Locus rubbed the pads of his thumbs against the backs of Felix’s hands. “He’s not going to be doing much more of anything, will he?” Locus pulled his hands away when he realized just what they were doing. Even if the gesture wasn’t needed, Locus took off his helmet. He pushed back his hair, annoyed with how it had become mussed under the helmet again and leaned down to kiss the top of Felix’s helmet. His lips lingered on the coldness of the metal, sealing in the gesture the importance of their partnership. “I trust you’ll do the right thing here?”

Felix smirked under the protection of his visor. “I always do the right thing. Not everyone sees it that way though.” He rose from the chair, helping Locus secure his helmet back on after the tenderness of the gesture had left him exposed. Reynolds wouldn’t want them that way. Reynolds’ opinion wouldn’t matter soon. Reynolds himself wouldn’t matter soon. Felix took in a deep breath. As he breathed out, he felt all the tension melt off. “You know, doing the right thing isn’t the same as doing something right. Sometimes, doing the right thing, is the wrong thing, just because what you happen to be doing is wrong, but for the right reasons. Reynolds is going to pay for this and it’s going to be on _my_ terms… no _our_ terms. Because when it’s all said and done, our terms are the ones that matter. Our terms are what get the job done.”

“Felix…” Locus started, resting his hand on his shoulder. “Just don’t get lost in it.”

“Hey, that’s why I have you here. I trust you to keep me on track with what I should be doing.”

“I can handle that.” Locus’ gaze shifted to the door opening as Reynolds came in, a smile gracing his face when he saw his best two men.

“Gentlemen, so kind of you to join me.” Reynolds took a seat in his chair on the other side of the desk. “I heard last mission didn’t go exactly to plan. Pity. I thought you two were the best.”

Locus grit his teeth and ignored the pain in his ribs when Felix stepped to the side. The two of them directly in front of Reynolds didn’t suit the plan Felix had in his head. Locus watched, keeping himself on the other side.

Taking a step back, Felix laughed. “Oh, Reynolds, we are the best. But that’s the thing about being the best. You often run into snags along the way. Snarls, if you will, and when you have to deal with those snarls, like hair when it’s tangled, you need to make sure that you can smooth it out, or cut it out so that the hair can continue to grow… otherwise, you have unkempt hair. Reynolds, what I’m trying to get at, is that, you have become that snarl.” Felix circled around until he was behind Reynolds’ chair. Locus checked to ensure that no guards had come toward his office. He secured the lock for when the door would be shut.  “We need to cut you out.”

Locus moved to stand in the corner. Show time.

\---

Felix slammed the door. “I should have killed you when you threatened him the first time.” Locus stood in the corner of the room, watching Felix from the shadows. Felix tested his knife against the pad of his thumb, pulling off his glove so that this was hands on, literally.

“I wonder Reynolds,” Felix told the gagged man, still muffling his screams as Felix climbed onto his lap. “What exactly made you think it was a good idea to try to kill me to control him? What made you think that killing him would keep me in line?” Felix dragged the blade so a thin, red line appeared on his neck, making him pant behind the gag. “Did it make you feel like a big man, holding our leashes?” Reynolds shook his head, eyes wide before another red line appeared on his neck.

“What is it Reynolds?” Felix breathed in his ear. “Did you think you could handle me? Locus can barely handle me and you think you can. I wonder if you can hear how wrong you are.” Felix brought the knife up to Reynold’s ear, blade curving around the edge of the shell, tugging on his ear while the blade separated it from his skull. The dull scrape of the metal against skin when Felix checked to ensure all of it was gone was deafening. Felix threw the ear, then leaned back to admire his handiwork. “Does it sound wrong now?” Felix ignored the screams, leaning forward to lick the tear off his cheek.

“Felix…” Locus warned.

“I know. I’ll slow down.” Felix slid off his lap and picked up the ear, inspecting it and wiping off a small bit of dirt. “Pity.” Felix unwound the gag tied around Reynold’s mouth, ignoring the pleas and cries of the man blubbering in front of him. “I think it’s cute that you thought you could get away with this. Not this time. Not ever again.” Felix shoved the severed ear into Reynold’s mouth, reworking the gag around his head to keep him from spitting it out. “I hope you fucking choke on it before I’m done.” Reynolds cried out in pain again as Felix jammed his finger deep into the cavity of his ear, rupturing the eardrum.

“You might want to listen next time when you hear that the mercenaries you’re hiring are the best and the most ruthless in the known galaxy. Know what you’re getting into before you go biting off more than you can chew.”

Felix hissed in a breath, laughing it out as he circled Reynolds and smeared the blood on his finger over that freshly pressed suit. Reynolds would have grit his teeth in annoyance if he wasn’t overwhelmed in pain and had the gag preventing him from doing so.

“Now. There are so many little things I can do here, Reynolds. Locus?” Felix grinned wide and wiped away the splatter of blood on his cheek. “Can you hand me his lighter?” Reynolds’ eyes got wide as Locus dug through his desk drawer, finding the lighter and tossing it into Felix’s open hand. Felix took his position back on Reynold’s lap, scooting down so he was nice and comfortable. He pressed his weight into Reynolds’ lap, digging his armor into the man’s cloth-covered legs.

Carefully, Felix pulled the blue paisley tie from Reynolds’ suit jacket, eyeing it. “I always had a fondness for your ties. You never wore the same one too often.” Felix ignited the lighter, holding it under the tie as it started smoke, the silk catching quickly. As the flames separated the two pieces, Felix let them travel up Reynold’s neck as he shrieked. Felix laughed. tossing the other piece of the tie aside. The flames finally went out around his neck, burning him slightly, making him scream more into the gag, biting down as pain rippled through him. He bit into the ear Felix had shoved into his mouth and he gagged, disgusted.

“Seems he didn’t like that,” Locus stated, still watching from the shadows. He had nothing left to say to Reynolds. This was Felix’s conversation.

“Your fear is intoxicating.” Felix exhaled deeply, pressing himself against Reynolds’ chest before inhaling, just smelling him. “I don’t think I’ve ever smelled someone this delicious before when it came to knowing that their life was in my hands.” He leaned back, bringing the knife back into view enough for Reynolds to see it glint before Felix cut at his jaw, sinking the blade down to the bone and slicing from his chin almost to his ear. The coppery smell of blood got thicker, and Felix sucked it in, smearing the blood that was dripping from the screaming man’s face across his cheeks and forehead.

“You know, it’s more fun this way. More fun knowing you can feel every bit. You know every shred of pain. And none of it.” Felix dug his finger into the cut he just made, separating the flesh as Reynolds screamed through the gag. “None of it compares to everything you put us through. Put _me_ through. Locus would die for me and I’ll kill for him. Pity for you.” Felix scraped his nail against the bone. “Such a pity.”

Locus had no thoughts of making Felix hurry up. He wanted Reynolds to pay for his crimes just as much as Felix did. He just didn’t feel the need to take away from his partner’s rage in dealing with the pesky situation of ensuring that he never interfered with them again. He laughed in the darkness.

“Will you stop being a creepy cliché in the corner there and bring me that pen knife? On his desk by the scorpion ball paper weight. Actually, bring that too.” Felix motioned back to the desk before turning back around and etching ‘paid in full’ into Reynolds’ chest through his suit. The blood started to stain, making the wounds look worse than they really were. Locus handed Felix the orb with the scorpion inside, as well as the pen knife.

“Thanks babe,” he purred, slamming his hand down hard with the orb in his palm, smashing Reynold’s hand against the arm of his chair. “I just needed something to make him a bit more pliable.” Felix handed the orb back after grinding it against Reynold’s hand to ensure it was shattered. Felix delighted in each crunch Reynolds’ hand made as the bones were pulverized by the orb, handing it back to Locus. Locus returned it to the desk and sat in Reynolds’ chair, testing the leather.

“Felix, you should get a chair like this. It certainly screams importance.” Felix grinned at the words, turning back to his tied prize. Felix showed Reynolds the penknife, cutting along the edge of his eye just underneath the lid. The man below shrieked in pain and Felix dug his finger into the cut, smearing the blood where the blood from his ear had started to dry.

“You shall cry tears of scarlet,” Felix said just above a whisper and Locus laughed.

“You stole that line from an old Earth show. You didn’t even quote it right.”

“Shut up. It sounded cool.” Felix backed off, sliding off his lap until he kneeled in front of him, stabbing the small knife into the meaty part of Reynolds’ thigh. The man cried out and Felix used it to distract him. “I’ve always liked this ring.” Felix traced the outline of the ring at the base of his finger with the penknife, only able to get to three fourths of it with his hand tied to the chair. Reynolds wailed behind the gag as Felix cut through the skin, severing the nerves and separating the bone. He pulled the finger off the rest of the way with a sickening rip, gasping and licking his lips at the noise.

“Have you ever heard something so beautiful?” Felix asked Locus as he dropped the finger to the floor and stowed the ring in his tactical pack on his thigh. “Huh, he’s a bleeder. Heat up my knife so I can stop most of that, okay babe?” Locus nodded, pulling out the lighter again and taking the knife when Felix offered it to him.

“He’s coming along nicely. Just a few more things to do.” Felix stood up in front of his masterpiece, more than pleased with himself. He took the heated knife from Locus after a few more minutes, pressing it to the stump where his finger used to be. Reynolds screamed into the gag. Felix let out a deep, satisfied breath, shaking it out as he shivered.

“Just listening to him is turning me on. Doesn’t it make you want to fuck on his desk once I’m done?” Felix licked his lips as he eyed Locus.

“No.”

“Can we anyway?”

“I’ll think about it,” Locus said as he crossed one leg over the other.

As the blade cooled, Felix cut away the rope that gagged the bleeding man in front of him. He ignored his pleas and whimpers, taking a seat back on his lap and purposely crushing the already broken hand. Reynolds cried out.

“To think, you thought you had us. You thought you could take two ruthless killers and harness us, leash us like your own little pets. That’s the thing with killers. If you think you’re the one calling the shots and you do something stupid, like try and kill one of them, if they make it out, then guess what, you’re a dead man. Reynolds. Look at me. Yeah, there you go. It’s so rare that you look me in the eye from high up on that horse of yours that I just knocked you down from. You may have money, but at the end of the day, so do I. I already plan on draining your accounts and framing one of your rivals for this, just like you had me do for Allen and guess what, I’ll make sure you take any sort of fall for what happens. One thing you forgot to take into account is that while you planned your little scheme, word, like me, travels fast. I’m faster than you. I’m stronger than you. Armor or not, you wouldn’t be able to pull this off. You don’t have the fortitude to take on men like me and Locus and live to tell about it. I am going to kill you once I can ensure that you can’t spread any more of your lies to get what you want. I don’t like being manipulated. You will be the last person to do it.”

Felix forced his mouth open, reaching in to remove the severed ear from his mouth. Felix held his hand out for Locus to hand over the set of pliers that he had brought with him. He reached into his mouth and clamped Reynolds’ tongue, pulling on it tight while the man fought as much as he could to shake his head away from the violence he was about to receive.

“Still Reynolds. Talk is cheap. Yours is about to be priceless.” Felix thrusted his knife under his tongue, pulling as he severed the muscle and blood started to pour from Reynolds’ mouth and down his throat. Felix didn’t wait for the knife to separate everything completely, ripping it from his mouth. He held the tongue, laughing to himself as an inhuman wail escaped Reynolds throat before he started to choke on his own blood. Felix let out a sigh of relief. He thought about cutting his throat just to make it easier on him until Felix got a better idea. He stabbed into the ribs on the left of Reynolds’ chest and the man started to spasm as he went into shock. Felix snorted for a moment before punching his ribs, breaking them easily with the help of the power armor. He tore through his suit, carving into his chest and pulled his heart out, separating the viscera with this teeth when his knife was too caked in blood to do much else. He tossed the mound of flesh on the floor and waited, sliding off Reynolds’ lap. Felix ground the heart under his heel sneering at the man and spitting on the corpse that was still dripping with blood.

“Heartless son of a bitch.” Felix made his way over to Locus, wiping his mouth of what was left of the viscera with the hand that he used to pull the heart out of his chest, grinning widely.

“This is why you don’t fuck with me.” Felix pulled Locus down into a kiss, the coppery taste of Reynolds’ blood tinging their lips. “You sure you don’t want to fuck on his desk?”

Locus wiped his mouth and rolled his eyes. “When have I ever actually been able to refuse you?”

“Never.” Felix kicked Reynolds’ chair away, grabbing Locus by the collar of his armor. He helped pull off his helmet, grinning wide.

“Are you sure that didn’t give you a rush? My blood is just pumping and flowing and I can’t make it stop no matter how badly I want it to. I just know I want to let it out on you and just.” Felix hissed in a breath. “Fucking hell, my blood is pumping and I just want you right now. Please?” Felix pushed Locus back onto the desk, deftly removing all of the armor he had memorized by this point. Felix laughed a little when Locus started helping him, leaning back onto the desk and shedding the now unneeded armor.

Once the chest piece was on the floor, Felix went for the codpiece, tossing it aside and opening the body suit. He closed his eyes and breathed in everything he knew of Locus, delighting in knowing this was his. Locus was his and he trusted him enough to know that he would always come back for him to be his. Felix didn’t own Locus, but in this moment, he felt like he had fought enough for the two of them to claim a small piece of his partner. Felix freed Locus’ hardening shaft from his bodysuit through the series of zippers and seals, taking it into his mouth and running the bead of his stud on the underside of his cock. Locus suppressed a moan, his previous fantasy coming to life before him. He reached down to pet Felix’s hair as he hummed around his shaft, sending shivers down his spine. This was better than he imagined and Felix’s mouth slowly taking him in, flicking his tongue over the top and teasing him with the bead from his tongue ring was enough to make him gasp. The warmth of Felix’s mouth around him made his heart skip just enough and he couldn’t remember the last time someone was so gentle with the idea of his own pleasure in mind.

“Let me hear you,” Felix gasped as he nibbled his way up Locus’ shaft, taking him in again to the back of his throat and swallowing. Locus’s fingers tightened slightly in Felix’s hair before he backed off a little and relaxed, a small whimper escaping the back of his throat. Felix came back up for air slowly, grinning. “That’s better.” He continued bobbing his head slowly, his hand working the lower part of Locus’ shaft as he lavished his tongue over the tip. He toyed his tongue ring over the frenum and Locus jumped a little, bucking into his hand. His breath hitched and Felix’s ego soared a little. “God you sound fucking hot when you do that and it’s because I did it. You’re here for me, Luca, aren’t you?”

Soon, words became too much for either of them as they coupled, uncaring about security feeds or the corpse they were sharing the room with. They stood together, forehead to forehead, arms around each other. Voices soft and breathless, no urgency to the words Felix finally managed to pant out.

“Luca?” Felix asked after a bit.

“Yeah?”

“Would you mind calling me Jin? When we’re alone at least?” Felix swallowed as he waited for the answer, smiling when Locus nodded and kissed him.

“Of course.” Locus kissed him again, leaning in to mark Felix’s neck softly, to mirror his own bruises. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. It’s like you said, I would die for you and you would kill for me, and together, we ensure that the other is taken care of in the only way we know how. I at least know that dying will just take me away from the piece of me I can’t take with. I care about you Jin, more than I can properly express. I need you too.” Locus kissed him again and again, threading his fingers through his hair and pulling on the mohawk he had grown to love. “I need you because I trust you. I trust you with my life, just like you did for me.”

Locus pulled away to see the widest grin on Felix’s face. “I trust you too, partner. And I think that’s all either of us really need to know.”

“It’s all I need when it comes to you. Knowing you have my back, there isn’t much else that puts my mind at ease,” Locus whispered against his lips.

\---

Once they got their armor back on, the pair left Reynolds’ office. Locus told Jackson to have someone clean up the mess Felix had made and advised him to choose someone with a strong stomach. Felix had picked up the penknife and the scorpion orb from the office as well as grabbing a few other souvenirs, like the lighter and a painting that Felix had had his eye on for quite a while, but never mentioned. Behind it was a wall safe that the two of them stared at for a moment before busting it open as quickly as possible, pulling the stacks of cash.

“Who keeps paper money anymore?” Locus asked, shoving it into a crate to take out. Felix busied himself with making sure that Reynolds’ account was wiped clean, all of it transferred to multiple, untouchable accounts.

“Old men who think that their way of life is preserved by having someone else do your dirty work for you.” Felix scoffed.

“Oh. By the way. We have a new job offer and while this one is similarly an old white dude with nothing better to than pay people to do his dirty work, he’s more interested in collecting things as well as killing. One of the things he wants to collect though, is a planet. It has resources,” Locus went on to explain.

“It has opportunity. Fuck it, why not?” Felix bent over the desk, finishing the transfer of the entirety of Reynolds’ accounts into his own, as his own personal fuck you to the man. “Okay, that’s done. Are you ready to go? Anyone you trust enough to take with us?”

“Jackson. A few others. We’ll just make sure they’re on our ship and we should be good.” Locus didn’t meet Felix’s eyes when he explained who he wanted, nor did he offer a why as to those that he chose. Felix shrugged.

“Then call them. Make sure they’re on the ship. We’re going to go soon. I have my own personal send off for Reynolds.”

“Do I want to know?”

“Probably not.”

\---

“Felix, was it really necessary for you to deface his ship in such a way?” Locus shook his head when he saw what Felix bothered to do to Reynolds’ ship.

“Yes. Everyone needed to see how much of a dick he really was.” Felix pressed a button. An explosion rocked the back of the ship they just left as they watched it from their own. A series of explosions took out the rest of the ship.

“Good thing we ransacked the place huh?” Felix asked with a grin.

“Now was _that_ necessary?” Locus asked, gesturing to the ship.

“No, but it made me feel better.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Hey Luca?” Felix asked and Locus turned to watch him. He hadn’t noticed him take his own helmet off, just that it was gone. Felix pulled on the mouthpiece to Locus’ helmet and grasped it on the sides, gently kissing the visor. “Thanks.”


	18. Deals with the Devil

Uncomfortable was a word that was used by the living when they were out of their element. Locus didn’t like feeling uncomfortable because it made him edgy. It made him twitchy and even with Felix strapping several throwing knives to the inside of his forearm just in case, even with a pistol concealed under his suit jacket, he was still worried about meeting this new employer who had contacted them first. They were reasonably edgy about that considering what Reynolds had put them through. However, the most uncomfortable thing thus far had been the attire required for their meeting with this potential employer.

Locus loosened the tie around his neck. He felt naked without his armor, but being invited by a potential employer on their dime had its conditions. Conditions that left Felix pulling on the tie around his neck like he had never worn one before, but Locus rolled his eyes in response. Looking over at Felix as he got himself ready was enough of a distraction to make him laugh about it. He was standing there in front of the mirror, shirttails untucked staring at his tie as he tried to get it in the right position like he had seen on TV before. A grunt of frustration and Locus snorted when Felix threw his hands up in the air, turning to pout at him and gesture to the tie. Locus packed the tablet that Hargrove had sent over for them as well, going to help his partner.

“Have you ever even worn a tie before?” Locus asked, shaking his head as he helped tie and straighten it when they went down in the elevator of the hotel. This new guy, Malcolm Hargrove, as he went by, had asked for the two of them by name and written invitation even, going as far as to find their ship to deliver the notes through his own messenger. Locus remembered the look on Felix’s face when he broke the red wax seal with the prominent capital H on it, complete with decorative trim. The knife he’d pried through the wax with was dripping red with the messenger’s blood, but he hadn’t spilled a drop on the paper inside. _Always shoot the messenger_ was, according to Felix’s own personal playbook, Rule Number One.

“I have. You know I have. I’m just. I remember what happened last time we were ‘hired’ to do a job and as much fun as it was to carve Reynolds up piece by piece, I don’t exactly like the idea of having to go through all the rest of the shit that went with it.” Felix got the tie on straight after batting Locus’ hands away, mocking a glare at him. “I’m sure you would rather not have your life threatened and almost die. Again. Or something.”

“Jin. Stop worrying. I don’t think this guy would fund a personal vacation for us, just to murder us. Or me. Or you for that matter. So don’t worry.” Locus tapped his hand against Felix’s as the elevator stopped.

“Okay Luca.” Felix tapped his hand back. The two of them got out of the elevator, walking with the same sense of presence they would have on their ship. Felix winked over at one of the attractive women at the bar and nodded appreciatively at the equally attractive man sitting two seats down from her as they passed. Locus rolled his eyes.

“Come on, you can play later. We have a job to do.” Locus slipped into his side of car that had been waiting for them, and Felix slipped in on the other. The partition between them and the driver was raised as soon as the driver got in and told them where they would be going, blacking out any sort of conversation that they wanted to have with her.

“It’s going to be fine. He wants to meet us in public. He won’t do anything that brings attention to himself.” Felix started to reason with himself, still a little on edge from Reynolds. Locus pulled up a dossier of Hargrove from the internet, finding more information than he would need on the man.

“Politician. Powerful. He has money. Doesn’t really matter what side he’s working for if we’re working for him. Seems he’s done some shady things, but nothing connects him to the work that they’re saying he did. Seems like our kind of guy.” Locus shrugged, handing the tablet over to Felix.

“Close but not too close.”

“Isn’t that how we operate?”

“I’d like to operate closer with you.” Felix smirked and kissed Locus’ cheek, resting his head on Locus’ shoulder as they drove. “He’s lucky I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry for something.”

“Usually food and you.”

\---

Hargrove stood to meet them in the private dining room that he had set aside for the three of them once Locus and Felix arrived.

“Gentlemen. So good to see you got my invitation. Now, I’m not stupid enough to think you came unarmed, even if you are out of armor, but I can assure you that you won’t need anything like that here. I simply wish to make you a deal that isn’t much different from many of the other deals you’ve gotten in the past. No reason to fight.” He nodded to Felix. “No reason to pull out the knives or the pistol.” He nodded to Locus. “Now whether either of you believe me is up to you, but I would rather the two of you get some food in your stomachs and we get better acquainted before we start talking business. Don’t forget, your stay extends beyond today. Even if you don’t take this deal, you still get a week on my dime… and I know you haven’t used much of it if your room service bill is any indication. When I say relax, I mean it. I know what’s happened to each of you before this and honestly, the two of you deserve a break. So take it even if you don’t agree.” Felix gave Locus a look of confusion, trying to figure out the game that Hargrove was playing with him, even if there wasn’t one… yet.

Felix spoke up first. “So you know everything.”

“More or less.”

“About us?” Felix’s gaze narrowed, watching Hargrove as he chose his words.

“Like I said, more or less. I don’t know every nitpicky detail, but I know you two come as a set, and while my plan calls for you work separately, that is only for the sake of my gain and not because I’m foolish enough to think that I can control either of you or keep you from one another. I know you two are close and you have been through a lot, but those that you work with once you infiltrate the varying armies that are starting to split will only be to further break them apart for the sake of the plan, and not because I want to keep you two from each other. What’s between you there is your own business and so long as you aren’t caught, then I don’t care what you do there,” Hargrove explained. Felix tapped his hand against Locus’ thigh once Hargrove finished talking and received a tap in return. “Trust me, I have no intention of ending up like your previous employer, Felix. Though, nice work. Word has spread enough that those in power know not to underestimate you now, which would be why I’m the only one approaching you with a job. The rest of them are afraid of being carved up because they think you’ll snap.”

“Hey. I’m not crazy. He threatened us. I took out the threat.”

“You’ve just earned some antisocial terms when people describe you, which I think is entirely unfair. If that was the case, you would have probably killed me already and I’m still standing.” Hargrove smiled as the waiter brought them water and wine, nodding for the man to leave a bread basket. Felix sniffed at the wine before drinking, finding it sweet. “I have no intent on labeling either of you one way or another so long as I can help it because I want you to work for me and everyone gets a clean slate then. Deal?”

Locus snorted. “I could deal with a clean slate.”

Felix looked up from buttering a piece of bread and nodded.

Locus paid little attention to what he and Felix ordered, focusing more on the details of the plans that were unfolding in front of them. Hargrove laid out what he wanted done, even if it took a while because overall, he wanted the planet and all the technology that came with it.

“I’m a businessman as well, gentlemen, and the easiest way for me to continue that business is to be ahead of the curve. In order to do that, I need the inhabitants of Chorus out of my way before I harvest what I want from the husk of a planet that I intend for you two to leave it in.” Hargrove finished up his meal, pushing his plate to the side as Felix ate his last bites of the steak he had ordered. Locus watched carefully as he ate, letting Felix speak first as he finished up.

“So you want us to kill everyone?” Felix asked, folding his napkin over his lap again after wiping his mouth clean and the waiter brought in the dessert menu. “Why not just nuke the shithole from orbit?”

“Oh no no. I want you to ensure that the inhabitants of the planet kill each other _for_ you,” Hargrove continued. “Build them up to think that each side can win the silly war that I’ve started with carefully placed conversations and attacks. This planet has been on the verge of civil war for nearly a decade. I’ve just been helping it along with my own people among the ranks. I want you to further that by staying planetside before I come and ensure that you have done your job.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Felix started as he finalized his dessert choice and handed the menu to the waiter. He waited for the man to leave before he started up again. “You want the two of us to help along a civil war that will absolutely wipe out the people on this planet, both with and without our help, for… how much? You haven’t mentioned price to myself or my partner at all and while we have a team together, we also have to figure out how we plan to organize everything.”

“Your team will be invisible to the local population. I only want them to see you two. Of how you handle that is up to you, but I have some equipment that may help in such a situation. Should you take the deal of course.” Hargrove tented his fingers as he leaned his elbows on the table. “As for price, I was thinking five hundred million. That should cover you, how you pay your team, supplies, everything.”

Felix glanced over at Locus. “Five hundred million?”

“Each.”

“Oh.” Locus’ eyes widened in surprise.

“With the opportunity for bonuses,” Hargrove explained, leaning back in his chair as Felix thought it over. “I know I don’t expect you two to make a decision right now, as that would be foolish, but five hundred million for each of you. You will get half of it now to keep everything going while you’re on planet, which should be more than enough to cover your expenses. The other half, and your bonuses if you earn them, you get when you finish the mission and the planet is mine. Does that sound like a deal you two can decide on before the end of your stay at my resort?”

Locus nodded over to Felix.

“I think we can come to some kind of agreement, but we will let you know when we talk.”

“Good. I hope to do business with you and hear your answer soon. Remember, kill bonuses are extra and delivered immediately to your account.” Hargrove cut his fork into the cheesecake in front of him, delighting in the taste. “Don’t forget dessert, gentlemen. I want this to be memorable.”

\---

“So what do you think?” Locus looked over as Felix stared off into the horizon, the waves gently lapping at the shore.

“I think he looks like the disgusting love-child of Squidward and his own house… but it’s a damn good offer. We already have a lot tied up in the banks around the galaxy, and this would make it that much easier for us to retire the way we want to: plush, pair for penthouse on top of a high rise with a huge TV and enough for anything we could ever want.” Felix went on to describe the ideals that came along with the job, pointing out that even with paying their crew Hargrove’s offers and kill bonuses just made everything seem that much more tempting. “In a lot of ways it almost seems too good to be true. I know he expects a lot from us considering he’s asking us to wipe out a planet entirely, but it’s about what I would expect from that kind of offer. What did he say about their civil war again?”

“Not a lot,” Locus answered, opening up the document on a tablet that Hargrove had handed to them at dinner. “He said one had broken out among the locals but didn’t talk about how it started. He just wants us to keep it going and make sure they wipe themselves out. Right now we’re talking millions of people. Civilians. Before this, our civilians included people who deserved it. These people seemingly don’t. How do you feel about that?”

“They haven’t personally wronged me or anything, but it’s a paycheck. It’s like an animal before you kill it to eat it. Don’t get attached and it’ll be that much easier to cut its throat. You’re just using it to keep yourself alive.” Felix nodded as he finished speaking.

“Then there’s the matter of us likely having to split up during a majority of this whole thing. Jin, we haven’t really been separate for a whole lot and especially not on purpose. The last time that happened…” Locus trailed off and Felix bumped his hand.

“Hey, I know what happened last time, but this will be different. Hargrove isn’t intent on separating us because he wants each of us apart from the other. He’s doing it for the sake of us controlling the schism in the government once it happens. He’s also offering us a fuckload of money to ensure it happens. Five hundred million each with kill bonuses. Granted I know it’s half now and half later to ensure that we don’t just run off without the job finished, but even if we pay our whole team double what we pay them now, we’ll still come out on top of this with more than enough money to retire if we want to.”

“Do you want to give up this life so quickly?” Locus asked, bumping Felix’s hand back as they leaned against the pier, before Locus headed down the stairs towards the sandy beach, looking back at Felix to see if he would follow. They hadn’t bothered to head back to the hotel after dinner yet and the darkening sky from the sun already setting off the horizon was giving them enough cover to talk openly. “Jin, you okay?” Felix nodded, reaching for Locus’ hand this time and holding onto it as they walked along the sandy beach.

“I am. I’m just thinking about what happened with Reynolds and almost losing you and I guess I’m kinda gun shy about taking on another employer.”

“Jin, you’re gun shy because you always use knives. You only use guns when you’re pissed and not thinking straight.”

“Shut up Luca. I’m being serious.” Felix stopped in his tracks, keeping his grip tight on Locus’ hand to make him stop with him. “I’m worried because I don’t want what happened last time to happen again. And with the way he has things set up, we’re already separated. That already makes me uneasy.”

“Separated yes, but he didn’t say we couldn’t communicate with each other. We have our helmet lines. We have tablets. We’ll be able to talk to each other even if we won’t be able to actually see the other right then and there. I’m not going anywhere. Neither are you.” Locus pulled Felix in close to hug him before pulling away and untangling his hand from Felix’s to cup both of his cheeks. “We’ll make it out of this mission one way or another, even if we have to drag each other out of the rubble to do it. Okay?” Locus leaned in and kissed him softly, assuring him just how much he meant what he was saying to his partner. “Come on, sit down.” Locus let go of Felix’s face, gesturing for him to sit next to him as he lowered himself down into the sand. Locus grabbed at Felix’s hand, threading their fingers together and pulling him close. “I just don’t want you to think this is going to drive a wedge between us because of the distance. We’re going to be able to talk and we need to do this job. Well, we don’t need to, but it’s a damn nice paycheck.”

“Yeah, I know, Luca. I just---” Felix was cut off by Locus pushing him back and carefully sliding onto his lap, straddling his hips and laying down against him. Locus grinned and took Felix’s hands in his, pinning them above Felix’s head and rubbing his half hard erection against Felix’s as his partner gasped in confusion and arousal underneath him.

“You just what?” Locus whispered into Felix’s ear, pressing his hardening erection against Felix’s as they rutted against each other through their pants. “You’re worried? You think that I’m not going to come back. You know what? You already carried me back and I’m going to be there, Jin.” Locus nipped at Felix’s neck, pressing again and listening for the little gasps that would tell him that Felix was his right then. “You’re already there for me and you’re already worried, but even if we’re half a planet apart, I know for a fact that I can be right there for you too. Even if I’m not standing next to you, I can still be in every thought you have until we’re together again. Do you understand me, Jin?”  
Felix nodded under him, pressing his erection up into Locus’ and writhing under him. “Yes, Luca.”  
“And you know I picked this way to tell you because I knew you would understand if I communicated your way instead of my way?” Locus took one of his hands off Felix’s and just held his hands down with one, his now free hand moving down to stroke Felix through his slacks. He quickly unbuttoned his pants and freed his erection, stroking him. Felix gasped at the touch, pressing up into his hand and panting slightly at the increased pressure. Felix had managed to wiggle his pants off slightly and his continued writhing had made the both of them sandier than needed.

“I’m not going to leave you, Jin,” Locus whispered into Felix’s ear as he came, pressing a small series of kissing to his neck and cheek as he came down from his orgasm and mewled his happiness at the gesture. Felix laid there for a moment, looking at the white, wet splotches on his dress shirt.

“God fucking dammit.”

Locus laughed. “Are you still hesitant about this job?”

“No, but I’m going to be digging sand out of my ass for the rest of our stay here. Goddammit. That was a stupid idea. Fuck this. Let's go to Chorus and kill people or some shit."

Locus snorted in amusement.

"You got something to say? Come on. Tell me."

Locus shook his head, and patted Felix's shoulder. "I think you should come along. _Partner_."

\---

“Showering isn’t helping, Luca! Why did you lie to me, Luca! I fucking hate you, Luca!”

Locus bit his lips from the bathroom doorway as Felix desperately tried to get the rest of the sand off of him.

“Would you like a hand?” Locus asked, pulling off his robe and stepping into the shower with him.

“We’re just going to fuck if you do thaaaaa---” Felix braced his hands against the wall of the shower when Locus came up behind him, kissing his neck and nipping at his shoulder.

“You seem to like it.” Locus smirked where his partner couldn’t see and let his hands wander.


	19. Signed in Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sexual content.

_‘Locus, Locus. Wake up. We have to get back to Hargrove about his deal.’_ Locus woke up. He turned over in the hotel bed and Felix was still snoring away, seemingly unmoved by the world around him after settling into their vacation that their potential new employer had given them. He was still wary of the entire thing. Yes, he got to keep his crew and they were getting a pile of money for it big enough to sleep on. Still, something just didn’t sit right with him about it. The idea was dashed as quickly as it came when Felix rolled over and snuggled up to him in his sleep. Locus pet back the bangs of Felix’s mohawk as he tried to think of an answer for the man that had offered them everything they could want: enough money to be able to have anything. Locus cared less about money than Felix did, but that had always been the case. Even as he looked at their accounts and how much Felix had done to make sure the two of them lived comfortably, even early on, it has always driven him more. Locus continued to pet Felix’s hair absently as he slept, mulling over their options with all of this. Hargrove didn’t seem like the type to like the word “No” thrown at him, so while he was giving them a choice, he really wasn’t. The vacation was strategy. It was a taste of what they could have all the time if they took this deal and went with him. Locus shook Felix to wake him up.

“Shut up, no, bed.” Felix opened his eyes enough to see the sun was just coming up over the horizon through their hotel room window and groaned. “Dude, it’s just barely morning and this is supposed to be a vacation. What the fuck? You better have a good reason for this.”

Locus held up a finger to hush him and Felix looked at him, annoyed. “Don’t give me that shit.”

“I said quiet. I have something to tell you about this new guy and I want your full attention.” Locus started to collect his words when Felix rolled over and closed his eyes again. “What are you doing?”

“Going back to sleep. You can tell me about it after I’ve slept some more.” Felix pulled the blanket up high enough that it almost covered his head.

“He’s playing us.”

Felix sat up in the bed. “Shut the fuck up. Not again.”

“Well, not in the same way, Felix, but he’s ensuring that we can’t say no with everything he’s offering. No matter what he gets out of that planet, he’ll make back his money in no time after he pays us, kill bonuses or not. Even this vacation is just a drop in the bucket for him as far as cost goes. So, really, he’s playing us, but he doesn’t want to force us with violence. Instead, he’s using sweetness, in his own way, to lure us in. With what happened with Reynolds, he knows that we’ll take anything that doesn’t pit us against the other intentionally or put the other in danger. Even if he plans to split us up. So he’s playing us.” Locus stared at Felix, waiting for him to think it over.

“Then fuck it, let’s play with him. So far he’s offering a good deal, but we should add our own conditions.”

Locus nodded.

\---

After getting dressed for the morning and determining what sort of conditions they should add, the two of them made an appointment with Hargrove for lunch to discuss their deal. Hargrove had brought up more clothes for the two of them to meet him in, even if it was just a fresh suit, shirt and tie, though in the colors they chose when he asked. They had long held with the orange and green and Hargrove catered to that, ensuring their accents, cufflinks, ties, and pocket squares were proper in color. Locus snorted when Felix laughed at everything matching their armor.

“Are there really people out there that dress like this all the time?” Felix made a face at the shirts being charcoal gray this time instead of black, though it went with the suits so he didn’t voice it beyond the raised eyebrow and glance cast over at his partner.

“Maybe it’s to tell us apart since we only ever go by our aliases and never take off the armor on mission. Think about how many people there are alive that have seen us, both of us, at the same time, without armor on. That’s a short list.” Felix nodded at Locus’ words, tucking his shirt into his slacks and holding out his tie for Locus to tie for him. Locus draped the tie over Felix's neck, arms going around him to knot it quickly before spinning Felix around to kiss him briefly as he tightened the tie around his neck and fixed the collar of his shirt. The two of them put their suit jackets on and made their way to the car Hargrove had left for them to arrive in at the specified lunch location.

“Remember what we discussed?” Felix nodded after a moment and Locus nodded back. Felix tapped his head, pushing some of his hair back and threading his fingers through the previously tamed style.

“Got it all up here. I don’t think we’ll both need to negotiate this one and since it’s in public again, I’m less worried that he’s going to splatter you as a way of pushing us into something.” Locus nodded at Felix’s explanation, looking up and following him out of the car into the restaurant where they were led to a private dining area again.

“What is with you? Do you own every place around here or do they just know that you like doing your deals in the private rooms?” Felix took a seat after the waitress left, nodding when she set out wine glasses for all of them despite it only being midday.

“I own the resort, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise to the two of you considering you have been partaking of the finer things associated with my tropical getaway. So, shall we eat, or talk business first?” Hargrove tented his fingers. Locus looked over at Felix and nodded.

“Business first, then lunch. You want us to take out a planet, which on its own is no small feat. We have a small crew of trusted employees that we have brought together over the years, but we think that you should be paying their salaries as well, since you want us taking out a fair amount of people.” Felix leaned back in his chair, getting comfortable as he let himself loose.

Hargrove nodded. “That seems fair.”

“I was hoping you would think so. You mentioned kill bonuses and my partner and I have already discussed our own reward system among our team as well to encourage performance, as we hope you still plan to do with us. Since we’ll be planetside for this, according to the dossier that you sent over last night, we want assurance that you aren’t going to keep us from the other. You said their war is already starting, but if you want us to make the problem worse, we’re going to need to be able to control the communication. We need our own private channels for our men, as well as between us. Though, with your resources, that shouldn’t be hard to pull off.” Locus nodded at Felix’s words.

“Also fair.”

“Then there’s the matter of a new ship,” Locus added, joining the conversation. “You’ve seen what we’ve been running and if you want us on either side of this war that you’re sure is to break out with our involvement, we need to be sure of ways to get around the planet, preferably without being seen.”

“We need something big, classy, nice.” Felix smirked.

“Gentlemen, I can do you one better. Charon has been developing technology that will allow for specific teleportation based on frequencies programmed into the devices themselves. If you and your crew will test them beyond our controlled environment, I can work on that ship.” Hargrove nodded at the waitress when she brought the bottle of wine he had requested before they arrived. She poured some for each of the men then dismissed herself. “Is there anything else?”

“Well, you’re an arms dealer, right?” Felix asked, watching Hargrove sip the wine for a moment.

“I prefer any of my other titles, but yes, we do deal in weapons.”

“Get me, my partner here, and our crew some new weapons, and you’ll be in business with a crew set to take out this planet so fast, your head is going to spin.” Felix grinned, handing Hargrove a menu.

“Then it sounds like we have a deal, gentlemen. I hope you’re hungry. I hear the food is excellent here.” Hargrove took his menu, barely glancing it over before turning his gaze to the pair across the table.

Locus held up a glass, turning to Felix who did the same, the two of them meeting Hargrove’s glass to seal the deal.

“To Chorus,” Hargrove said.

“To Chorus,” Locus and Felix replied in unison.

\---

Felix and Locus got back in the car to the hotel after sealing their deal and finishing lunch.

“That fucking man makes me fucking sick with how fucking proper he is. Fuck.”

“Are you done?” Locus asked, nodding at the driver to close the partition on their way back.

“Fuck no.” Felix yanked the tie off his neck. “Fucking Satan’s choke toy fucking trying to fucking kill me.”

“You don’t seem to mind when it’s your hands on my neck.” Locus stared Felix in the eye until Felix looked away.

“That’s different.”

“Is it?” Locus turned Felix’s head and loosened his own tie, pulling it up over his head and stretching his arms out so they hit the back window. Felix watched those hands wind together around the tie and he took his chance, hopping onto Locus’ lap and tightening the tie around his wrists.

“No, it’s not different,” Felix whispered before sliding off Locus’ lap and turning to the intercom to the driver. “Take the scenic route. We’ll tell you when to head back to the hotel.” After turning from the intercom, Felix crawled back over and turned his attention back to Locus, going for his belt first and breathing him in as he nuzzled Locus’ lap, pulling at the zipper slowly. “I know this wasn’t entirely what you were thinking,” Felix whispered again once the intercom was off, “but the tinted windows do give privacy. What do you think? We sealed the deal. We’re going to be richer than we can even imagine. New weapons. You. Giftwrapped.” Felix looked up at the tie keeping Locus’ hands bound together.

“I would say that you have everything right how you want it,” Locus purred at him, lifting his hips to help Felix with taking Locus’ pants off. “What do you propose since you have everything how you want it, or so it seems.”

“So it seems and you’re right where I want you.” Felix pulled at Locus’ pants, taking them off along with his boxers, before climbing up onto his lap, his thighs on either side to straddle him and lean in to kiss Locus’ neck. The kisses turned to light bites and Locus gasped, pushing his hips up into Felix’s.

“I love it when you’re like this,” Locus gasped out, taking Felix’s earring into his mouth and sucking on the earlobe before tugging softly, making Felix grind on his lap.

“Like what?” Felix asked, breath hot against Locus’ neck.

“Like an animal.”

“Hmmmm, and here I thought you liked everything cold and calculated.” Felix raked his nails down Locus’ chest, pressing through the fabric enough to feel it.

“Not when it comes to you. You’re my wild card.” Locus groaned when Felix claimed his lips, pushing his studded tongue into his mouth while holding his cheeks. The two of them pressed against the other, rubbing against one another as Locus pulled on the tie that kept his hands together. When the kiss broke, Locus panted and Felix slid off his lap, shedding his pants and boxers. He pulled the small bottle of lube out of the breast pocket of his suit, and Locus’ face dropped.

“Really?”

“Hey, always be prepared. And I don’t see you complaining,” Felix replied, staring at Locus’ erection.

“You the only one that does this to me though.” Locus stretched out in front of Felix, lounging in the back of the car for the sake of making it easier for the both of them.

“Lucky me then.” Felix shed his pants, struggling to get them over his shoes before just kicking them off entirely. He pushed off his own boxers, and reached back to prep himself just enough. “At least Hargrove springs for a limo to take us around in.”

“What?”

“This would be impossible in the back seat of a car.”

“I’m sure you could find a way to make it work, Jin,” Locus replied as Felix slicked him up and climbed on his lap, teasing him and rocking back against him. “You always know how to make things work.” Locus tugged at the tie when Felix slid onto his length and took him fully, making him hiss slightly. “Still not entirely used to that.”

“You still love it though, Luca,” Felix leaned forward to whisper into Locus’ ear as he lifted his hips and took him in again, making a slow steady pace in the back of the car. “And to think this started because you made a comment about me choking you.” Felix kissed along Locus’ neck, dragging his fingers over the charcoal grey shirt that Locus had been given as well. “I could still choke you.”

“Not this time.” Locus thrusted up instead, getting his partner moving while he kept himself balanced. Felix rocked his hips with him, grinning and grinding down as the two of them kept at it.

“You know, it’s going to be hard to do this soon,” Felix whispered, letting out a low groan when he took Locus in again. “I want to savor it. Besides, I have a few other things planned for us.” Felix lifted his hips and kept taking Locus again and again, reaching up to untie his hands. Locus’ first reaction was to help maneuver Felix’s hips, making him cry out over him when he kept brushing against the bundle of nerves that made him cry out and whimper in his lap.

“What happened to savoring it?” Locus asked, scooting back enough to reach Felix’s neck with his mouth, kissing him and pulling him in for more.

“My desperate need to feel amazing. It being you is just a perk.” Felix winked before his mouth dropped open as he shuddered over Locus, unable to hold back from spilling himself between them.

“Is that why you’re able to last so long when we’re like this?” Locus laughed at his question, pulling Felix close as he finished himself off. Locus kissed him a few more times as the two of them came down, brushing Felix’s hair out of his face and humming softly. “Don’t worry, this job won’t take us that long. A year or two and we can be back to side by side. You make your side believe what they want. Probably best if they think we hate each other.”

“I don’t think I could hate you though. Well, not seriously at least.” Felix gasped as Locus slipped out of him, turning his head over his shoulder. “I do want to go someplace else before we head off from this vacation, but we’ll need to clean up.”

“You mean you’ll need to clean up.” Locus laughed again, kissing Felix deeply and playing with that tongue stud he had grown to love.

“Your shirt looks like it has cum on it though.”

“Oh. Right.” Locus didn’t move Felix off his lap as he reached for the intercom. “Driver, back to the hotel, then we have another place to go.”

\---

“Why are we here?” Locus felt even more out of his element as he stood in the tattoo parlor. The two of them had cleaned up, paid their driver not to say anything, plus a little extra to ensure that the stains would come out of the carpet and leather. Locus didn’t wear flip flops. He didn’t wear white linen pants. He certainly didn’t wear pale green polos but the weather called for it. “Why did I let you dress me?”

“Because it was what Hargrove had on hand and we don’t have any clothes of our own it seems. You look good though. Kinda like a dad. Can I call you ---? Wait. No. Nevermind. Don’t worry about it just focus on me here. Don’t pay attention to anyone else.” Felix kept going, telling the artist what he was thinking of.

“I know you have plenty of tattoos, but me? I don’t exactly have more than the usual military ones that I think about so little that I don’t even know why I got them,” Locus explained, letting Felix rub his fingers over his shoulder and arm.

“Yes, but this one is different. This one would mean that I’m always watching your back, even when I’m not there. This isn’t some meaningless tattoo or military thing that you do because your battle buddies did it. This is something you do for me.” Felix’s purr was evident the closer Felix’s lips got to his own, and they kissed.

“What about you?” Locus asked, pressing his hand against Felix’s back to keep him close. “Do you have something planned for yourself?”

Felix nodded, taking his shirt off and pointing to his left pectoral muscle. “I was planning on a wolf head here.” He turned to the artist. “With a green eye.” She nodded, pulling on her gloves and getting her tools and ink ready. The artist, Alice she went by, started her work on Felix first. Felix didn’t break his gaze with Locus the entire time she was working, shading in the teeth, fur, and face. Spraying the tattoo down with cool water part way through, she wiped it down and Felix let out a dull hum. “I always like this part. Cools it down.” Alice smiled, and went back to work, finishing up her work on Felix before too long.

After Alice finished up with Felix, covering his tattoo with cellophane and a moisturizer to help it heal, she turned to Locus. She switched out the needles and ink, keeping everything clean.

“You ready for yours? Felix already told me what and where.” Alice patted the chair in front of her and Felix nodded, turning Locus around in the chair so his back faced the artist. Having been tattooed a few times before, but not as much as Felix, Locus knew what to expect when the needle hit his skin, but the familiar burn turned to an ache after a while. He didn’t notice that Felis’ hand was on his knee until Alice announced they were over halfway done.

“So what exactly am I getting put on me, Felix?” Locus asked, still trusting his partner.

“Dicks. Like fifty dicks. What do you think you’re getting?” Felix rolled his eyes. “Fucking hell. It’s a raven. Watching your back. Just like I do.” Felix’s fingers pet his leg as Locus hissed when more sensitive skin was adorned with feathers of the wingspan as she spread it over his shoulder and arm. Alice sprayed Locus’ tattoo down with water as well and he sighed. Felix leaned in to kiss his forehead.

“Almost done.” Alice stuck her tongue out as she finished off the raven, coloring its eye orange like Felix asked. She swabbed it with moisturizer and covered Locus’ tattoo the same as Felix’s. Felix helped him pull his shirt on, tipping the woman after paying her and headed out.

Their driver was still waiting when they got out hours later, looking at the two of them with boredom.

\---

Felix helped Locus take care of the tattoo back at the hotel a few hours after it had been applied, washing it properly and letting it air dry. Felix showed him what it looked like with the use of the bathroom mirror and a camera, giving him the full angle of the raven spread wide across his shoulders.

“This way, I’ll always be watching your back.” Felix wrapped his arms around Locus’ waist, careful not to touch the tattoo, kissing under the unmarked shoulder blade. Locus turned around, helping Felix wash and clean his wolf on his chest. He leaned down and kissed Felix’s forehead. “And this is so you’re always close to my heart.” Locus grinned at Felix’s words, looking out the window at the sun setting outside.

“At least we have some time left in our vacation before we have to get down to business. We should make some plans before we head out. What do you say, _partner?_ ”

Felix laughed. “I say that’s a great idea. Just gotta record it. That way you can listen to my voice anytime.”

“Won’t that be a treat.”

“Asshole.” Felix smirked.

 


	20. Felix's Guide to Being a Merc

Felix stretched out on his back, grimacing slightly when his stretching pulled at the still tender flesh of his tattoo. It had been healing a few days, but it didn’t stop it from hurting if her pulled his arms too far apart. Locus laid on his stomach so as not to irritate his own tattoo, pooling his head in his arms as the two of them finished out their stay at the resort that catered to their whims.

“Rule number one…” Felix mumbled to himself, running a finger over the scaling skin of his tattoo as it healed.

“Listen to you carefully.” Felix sat up slightly to look at Locus.

“Yeah. How do you remember that after so many years?” Felix stared up at the ceiling of their hotel, the setting sun casting varying colors across the room.

“Some things just stick with you after a time. Kinda like you. There’s a lot of ways you’ve stuck with me, besides what we did recently.” Locus tilted his head up, watching his partner.

“There’s also not saluting your commanding officer,” Felix said with a smirk, “but you learned that one pretty quickly.”

“Yeah, because if you do, you mark your officer as someone to take out more easily to those around you that want to pull apart your operation. Keep your weapons in order,” Locus added, dragging a finger down Felix’s ribs.

“Right. You want to make sure everything is in working order for yourself and anyone working with you so that you know exactly what it is that you have as well as what you might need.” Felix wiggled away from Locus’ finger a little, covering Locus’ hand with his own after reaching across himself.

“No socks with sandals. Always kill the messenger.” Felix stated, laying there and looking up at the ceiling again. “Though, you were bad at those two.  I’ve seen you on days off, and I know you fucked him instead.”

“One time. It was one time. Are you ever going to let me forget that?” Locus jabbed Felix’s rib, making him flinch and blow the hair out of his face.

“Probably not. I think it would be hot to watch the two of you together at some point. At least I know you won’t be entirely lonely while I’m away,” Felix said with a wink.

“You would like that. You would like a lot of things though. I’m not saying no, but I’m not saying yes either.” Locus moved to caress his finger against Felix’s ribs where he had jabbed, making him wiggle away again.

“Stop, that tickles,” Felix laughed. “Oh, lying, cheating, and stealing are the only ways to survive, but those lies should only ever be twistings of the truth. You know this though. You’ve always known that. I’ve always been upfront with any of our employers and their lies are what were their undoing, not ours. Actual lies will get us nowhere. Withholding, bending, and making the truth our own? That’s how we win. We also have that private channel just in case to ensure that we always know what going on.”

“Just like we have been able to do so far. Either way, bend the truth. If I have my way, I won’t have to speak much to them in the first place, I can just work my way in,” Locus added. “I can just stand there and look imposing. You could too, but I know you won’t.”

“Relationships will only slow you down anyway.” Felix moved quickly to roll himself to straddle Locus’ thighs, massaging his hands into his lower back as he continued. “Just remember that a good partnership, like what we have, is worth that risk because we know just how much hell we will go through for the other.”

“I probably wouldn’t have gotten this far without you. Well, not in this direction at least.” Locus moaned under Felix’s fingers as they worked over his lower back, feeling his back loosen under those nimble fingers.

“Probably not. To be honest, you looked like all the rest of them when I first saw you. I wasn’t sure you would last a week. Yet, here you are.”

Locus narrowed his eyes. “Oh yeah? Well, you wouldn’t have gotten this far without me.”

“I know. Just pointing it out is all.” Felix rolled his eyes and pressed deep into a knot in Locus’ lower back. “Kinda how I’m ‘just pointing it out’ that you’re an ass.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“Shut the fuck up Luca. I will---”

“You’ll what? Hurt me?”

“Shut up. Anyways. We’re going to have more money than we’re going to know what to do with. We have a lot saved already, but we should also consider housing, expenses, things we want for when we’re done with this planet. Did we ever negotiate with Hargrove to keep the wages of any of our men who die on the job or was that just something I dreamed up?” Felix scooted himself up to sit on Locus’ butt, grabbing the unscented lotion to moisturize the tattoo on his partner’s back and shoulder.

“Not something I remember, so you must have dreamed it. Though I’m not surprised that you would dream of such a thing.” Locus snorted then hummed when the cold lotion hit his tattoo, cooling it. He turned his head to look at it starting to flake. “She did a really good job. We’ll have to remember her in the future.”

“Why? You want more ink?” Felix bit his lip as he watched Locus’ face, clicking his tongue stud against his teeth.

“No. But you will.”

“Yeah, okay. We’ll have to make a trip back. Here’s hoping that she’s still in business when we come back.” Felix stayed sitting on Locus butt, then scooted back down, rubbing the lotion into the untattooed areas as well. “Probably one of the most important things as a mercenary? Play with your prey, but kill any and all threats. Make it hurt. Make them suffer. Take them out in the worst way possible so that when someone hears about what you did to the other person, they know not to fuck with you. Build the reputation. Twist that knife each and every time that you can because at the end of the day, if you are stronger, faster, and smarter than them, you shouldn’t feel any remorse for killing them. They didn’t deserve to live anyway. They’re nothing. And if they’re nothing why do they matter?”

Locus carefully turned himself under Felix and leaned up so that he was inches from Felix’s face. “Because if they don’t matter, then you don’t have to worry. If you’re stronger, then you live and you grind them into the dirt. If you’re faster, they lay there bleeding while you lick your knife. If you’re smarter, you’ve already planned how to kill them for when you’re ready for them to die.” He leaned closer, his breath hot against Felix’s lips. “And that’s why I only want you to be the one to kill me.”

“That’s better than ‘I love you’ any day.” Felix worked his fingers into Locus hair and pulled his face close, pushing his tongue into Locus mouth to rub his tongue stud against his tongue. They deepened the kiss before pulling away, near out of breath.

“Yeah, that’s because I trust you. That’s more important.”

“Finally, rule number one: trust your partner.” Felix kissed him again, more gently this time. “Because they’ll always be there to watch your back.” Felix brushed his fingers just above the tattoo of the raven.  
“And protect your heart.” Locus outlined the wolf’s head on Felix’s chest with a finger.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Book One.


End file.
